7f 

'MYSTERY OF GODLINESS." 



SAMUEL L\ SOUTHARD, A. M. 

n 

RECTOR OF CALVARY CHURCH, NEW-YORK. 



" I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." 

John 14 : 




NEW-YORK: 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA : 
G. S. APPLETON, 148 CHESNUT-STREET. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 

By D. APPLETON & CO., 

n the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. 






> 



TO THE 

RIGHT REVEREND THE BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY, 

WHO COMMITTED TO ME 

"THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION," 

WHO HAS BLESSED ME BY HIS COUNSEL, 

CHEERED ME BY HIS FAVOUR, 

AND ENCOURAGED ME BY HIS EXAMPLE, 

THIS HUMBLE EFFORT 

TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF THE REDEEMER, 

BOTH HIS AND MINE, 

IS 

(BY PERMISSION) 

MOST GRATEFULLY AND LOVINGLY 

DEDICATED, 



4& 



<y 



PEEFACE. 



The following Sermons are not a collection of occasional 
discourses, but were composed consecutively, and with 
reference to one end. They are designed to be an humble 
plea in behalf of the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son 
of God, and of His wisdom, manifested in the plan of our 
salvation ; and an effort, however feeble, to promote His 
praise. 

Like the text — the parts of which, though perfect in 
themselves, as statements of important facts, and branches 
of his argument, are necessary to complete the whole — - 
these Sermons, having each its line of argument and illus- 
tration, form one plan. 

I have sought, by frequent illustrations, to make the 
subject, and the mode of handling it, attractive to the minds 
whom I would reach. Perhaps, instead of weakening the 
arguments, they may have added to their force. 

The first discourse maintains the theory that there not 
only are, but must be, "mysteries" in the plan of our salva- 
tion, it being the device of perfect wisdom, in a case where 
human intellect must have forever failed. It also defines 
the meaning of the term, in scriptural acceptation ; and 
answers the objection, which is often raised, that there are 
mysteries in our religion. 

The second gives the Scriptural and Catholic theory of 
the Incarnation, with proofs of the humanity and Deity of 



Jesus Christ, and urges, against the objection that the 
doctrine is so wonderful, the many mysteries which are 
received. 

The third presents the testimony to the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, before and at the time of his appearing, and subse- 
quent to his ascension ; which is the witness of the Holy 
Spirit, by whom our Lord was "justified." 

The fourth supplies the testimony of the Angels, who 
are examined as to their knowledge of the Eternal Son., 
ever since their own creation, and their belief, or not, that 
he became the Son of man, still being perfect God. 

The fifth maintains that Paul, in preaching to the Gen- 
tiles, on his own confession, preached " the unknown God ;" 
and that " the unknown God," whom he declared, was not 
the God of nature, whose existence may be read upon its 
ample page, but the God of grace, in Jesus Christ ; where 
He is most " unknown."' — It also shows the power which 
attends the preaching of the cross, to be itself a " mystery." 

The sixth rescues the language of the text from what is 
thought to be a frigid and erroneous interpretation ; and 
shows, that the fact that the doctrine of the Incarnation was 
" believed on in the world," was not recorded by St. Paul, 
in this connexion, to assert, so much, the progress of the 
gospel, as to declare that its reception, under circumstances 
calculated to test its consonance with reason, and by men 
whose understandings were enlightened by the Spirit, proves 
it to be not only a divine, but rational Christianity. 

The last displays the further evidence of his divinity, 
which is supplied by his ascension, and the benefits which 
we derive. Then follows the summing-up of all the testi- 
mony which has been produced. And it concludes with a 
concise and general statement of the plan of our salvation. 

Imperfect as they are, I am thankful that they have been 
blessed already. And if now, by their publication, one soul 



PREFACE. 7 

shall be redeemed from error, or one heart, which is already 
His, shall kindle with intenser love for " the only wise God, 
our Saviour," it will repay the most unworthy of His min- 
istry, who craves to lay his offering upon the footstool of 
His throne. 

S. L. S. 

Festival of the Presentation, 
New- York, 1848. 



'MYSTERY OF GODLINESS." 



" WITHOUT CONTROVERSY, GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS I GOD 
WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT, SEEN OF ANGELS, 
PREACHED UNTO THE GENTILES, BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD, RECEIVED 
UP INTO GLORY." 1 Timothy 3 : 16. 



SERMON I. 

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 



Almighty and Everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants 
grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the 
eternal Trinity, and, in the power of the Divine Majesty, to worship the 
Unity ; we beseech Thee, that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this 
faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest 
one God, world without end, Amen. 






SERMON I. 



" Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." — 1 Tni. 3 : 16. 

I propose, dear brethren, a series of discourses, 
to be delivered as occasion shall permit, on the several 
members of the sentence of which our text is only 
the beginning — which is as follows : " Without con- 
troversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was 
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of 
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in 
the world, received up into glory." A passage in 
which, with the utmost graphic power, the Apostle 
has sketched the sum and substance of the Gospel, 
which is the narrative of the great work of our re- 
demption, in its comprehensiveness and glory. For 
these brief expressions comprehend the history of all 
that Christ has done and suffered for our race — pre- 
senting us with all the important facts which are 
required for our comfort, and the assurance of our 
faith. x\nd 1 know no more extraordinary passage — 
in which are gathered more important truths, to re- 
ward us for our constant study, and our patient con- 
templation. 



14 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

It is like a painting of some master-hand, in 
which the casual observer, from a distance, may 
behold none but the bolder outlines, and those figures 
which appear most prominent, but where are hidden 
for the loving eye the minuter master-strokes of art 
and of devotion. 

We gaze upon the bolder lines of this great pic- 
ture, by the pencil of the Spirit, and soon it grows 
before us, and the dark portions are enlivened by a 
glory which is shed, we know not whence, upon the 
scene ; and one by one its most minute attractions 
are reA'ealed, and every circumstance attending that 
mingled scene of tragic violence and self-devotion — 
of deep abasement and of exaltation — of the sufferings 
and patience, and the passion, and the death, the 
resurrection and ascent of Christ the Saviour of the 
world — is brought before us, and in* all its cardinal 
features, and details of power and obedience, the 
plan, for the redemption of a ruined world, lives on 
the inspired page ! No careless, nor irreverent eye, 
no passing notice, may detect its numberless perfec- 
tions. You must sit down, alone, instructed by the 
Spirit, or with you, as a friend and guide, some one 
to whom the oracles of God have been committed. 
Then shall your patient study be rewarded by a true 
appreciation and a more perfect knowledge of this 
work of Inspiration. 

It is a landscape — in which the careless eye sees 
nothing but the cliffs or loftier mountains, which pro- 
ject upon the canvas, and whose vast dimensions and 



THE MYSTERY OP GODLINESS. 15 

unmeasured height create within no wish to tread the 
soil, or taste the delights of such a country ; while, if 
he would but stop, with patient gaze to scrutinize the 
picture, he would see, among those lofty hills, verdant 
and peaceful valleys defended from the violence of 
tempests, refreshed by streams of living waters ever 
descending from those fearful heights, and rejoicing in 
the shadows of the mountains ! He would see the 
evidences of prosperity ; and on a closer view, those 
hills whose tops were unregarded, would seem ar- 
rayed in glory — to extend into eternity — to penetrate 
into the presence of the Deity — and up their heights 
the steps, by which, at frequent intervals, are seen 
the stronger of the children of the valley, ascending 
into heaven ! 

Such is the sketch of Christianity by the Apostle ; 
and to each one of the features which compose it, I 
propose, in course, to direct the mental eye. On this 
occasion, your attention is to be confined to the first 
portion of this passage — which is descriptive of the 
whole — and is the general colouring into which all 
other shades are blended, and which gives a character 
to all. 

The contemplation of this opening declaration, 
" Great is the mystery of godliness," will prepare us 
to consider, one by one, the propositions which suc- 
ceed it. 

" Without controversy, great is the mystery of 
godliness." By " godliness " is here intended, not 
that conformity to the will of God, and imitation of 



16 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

his virtues, which in the practice of mankind is some- 
times meant by this expression ; but the manifestation 
of God in all the characters of the Messiah, and in all 
the work of the Redeemer. It i§ not so much God- 
likeness, which is the sense when used of Christian 
character, as the development, by God the Son, and 
execution of the plan for the salvation of the world, 
which is described in the phrases, " God was manifest- 
ed in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, 
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, 
received up into glory." These facts, (for they are 
facts,) these actions of the ever-blessed Son of God, 
(for they are his achievements,) these manifestations 
of God's condescension, and his power, in the atone- 
ment of the Son, and in the free course and triumph- 
ant progress of the gospel, — compose the " godliness " 
which is intended. 

And by "the mystery" is meant, that that which 
has indeed occurred, and is recorded, is most wonder- 
ful — passing the knowledge and ability, the science 
and experience of man ; and passing human under- 
standing. It is inexplicable upon human principles, 
requiring a superhuman agency, and brought about in 
opposition to the calculations of mankind. Such is a 
mystery in the sense of Holy Scripture — when any 
thing is done by the exercise of God's omnipotence, 
and effects are brought about by causes which, to us, are 
insufficient. The mystery may vary in degree, from 
the life of the lowest of his creatures, to the nature 
and existence of a Triune God. And among the 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. \~[ 

wonderful things which are recorded in the Bible, the 
" mystery of godliness" is great — exceeding many of 
the wonderful and mighty works which God is ever 
doing in our midst, as that transaction must exceed in 
dignity the achievements of mankind, in which the 
actor was himself the eternal Son of God ! 

Let it be borne in mind, a mystery is no absurdity 
— no contradiction of our reason, from which we 
should recoil ; but something, proposed, orelse accom- 
plished, which is beyond our power, but is possible 
with God. Men shrink from mysteries, and will in- 
sist that there can be no mystery in our religion — 
and, if they were the horrid and irrational rites which 
their misguided fancies have created, I should con- 
demn them too. But let us not reject the truths of 
revelation, and denounce the system which God's 
wisdom has invented, and forego the most invaluable 
graces of the Holy Spirit, through ignorance of terms. 
A mystery is something wonderful ; and, in its lawful 
sense, applies to every act of the Omnipotent. 

And the facts and truths of Christianity are charged 
with mystery — for it is against this characteristic of 
the gospel that mankind object. It is too wonderful 
— too little like the systems of the world — too far su- 
perior in dignity and in design to man's imaginations 
— and founded upon facts the like of which were never 
known in their experience ! Forgetting that it claims 
to be descended from above, they think it wrong be- 
cause it bears so little likeness to the things of earth ! 
We are met by this objection at the outset, and 
2 



18 THE MYSTERY OP GODLINESS. 

through the publication of the gospel ; and almost as 
often as we give it "line upon line" and "precept 
upon precept." We scarce can preach a doctrine 
among those which lie at the foundation of our faith, 
hut here and there some "evil heart of unbelief" re- 
jects the "mystery!" The nature of the Deity we 
worship, three persons and one God — the separate 
personality of the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit 
— the theory of the divinity of Christ, and his human- 
ity — his miraculous conception — his mission as Mes- 
siah, though rejected by God's people — his omnipo- 
tence kept in abeyance, while subject to the malice 
of mankind — his resurrection and ascent in human 
form- — his kingdom and dominion as the Son of God 
and son of man — the efficacy of his death — and his 
perpetual mediation — all these are set aside as mys- 
teries, transcending human understanding. And it is 
urged by the opponents of the gospel (under which 
name 1 class all those who, from a want of faith, do 
not obey its precepts), that God would surely suit his 
revelation to the understandings and capacities of 
men. And human reason, contemplating only such 
a God as we ourselves, and most absurdly arguing 
from the creature to that very creature's own Creator. 
is prone to sanction the objection, while, by the ver- 
dict, she is robbing him of his superiority, and of all 
that renders him a God ! I call it reason, because 
they term it thus who hold to such conclusions, al- 
though the process is fallacious, and the conclusion is 
a libel on the noblest faculty of man. This is the 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. IQ 

practical assumption of ungodly men. They first 
assume that Christianity, as represented in the Bible, 
will be, in all respects, adapted to their understand- 
ing, and correspond to their imaginations. And then 
they charge upon it mystery, and so are justified, in 
their esteem, either in disobedience of individual or- 
ders, or the denial of its peculiar doctrines, or its 
rejection as a whole, according to the degree of their 
impiety, and the rancour of their evil heart of unbelief. 
Hence are derived the most effectual arguments 
against it; the most effectual encouragements in dis- 
obedience ; and the bitterest mockery and most ma- 
lignant sneers of the friends and the inheritors of hell I 
Hence are derived the arguments which turn aside 
the simple from his way, and keep him back from 
happiness and heaven. 

My brethren, let not the gospel, as a record of 
the works of the Redeemer, be misunderstood. So 
far am I from undertaking to deny the charge, or to 
•explain all mysteries, that, as a minister of Christ, I 
boldly claim that the facts of the Bible are most 
wonderful, and the doctrines of the Christian's faith 
are plainly written for our learning, but, in them- 
selves, mysterious. The Bible comes not as a book 
asserting nothing which is above our knowledge, or 
beyond our comprehension ; for it would be unworthy 
of the Deity, and fail to exercise and put in proof, 
that faith, which is, on our part, the only agent of 
our reformation, and the mighty instrument of our 
salvation. The plan of the atonement does not come 



Of) THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

to us as one which human wit might have discovered, 
for then our own salvation would have been within 
our reach, and there had been no need of the coun- 
sels of the Godhead, or the amazing condescension 
of the Saviour, or the unearthly pangs of the Re- 
deemer, or the " mystery " of the atonement. But 
requiring, as it did, the wisdom, the purity, the 
power, and benevolence of God, to devise and carry 
out the plan of our redemption, it is most evident, 
that a scheme which required for its origin a wisdom 
so much greater than our own, could not, in all its 
parts be level to our comprehension ; else were the 
wisdom and the love of God no greater than our own. 
which yet were insufficient to devise the way in 
which he could be just and justify the sinner ! I hold 
that by the soundest principles of human logic, as 
well as in accordance with the sentimeuts of inspira- 
tion, there either must have been a " mystery " in 
the atonement, or, there had been no atonement ! 
And if that holy volume be a fable, it is the noblest 
work of man, and answers perfectly, in every part, 
to the best requirements of an enlightened reason ; 
and in the midst of the productions of the universal 
race of man, it stands alone, in glory — and I will take 
it, as the best of books, to guide me through the paths of 
life, to comfort me in death, and fill my mind in the 
last hours of existence, and before I sink into forget- 
fulness forever, and the light of intellect goes out in 
everlasting night, with its imaginary paradise, and 
its fictitious scenes of future and eternal peace, and 
rest, and joy. 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. £1 

And is the gospel, or rather, (for I would not be 
misapprehended where all depends on the clear per- 
ception of the point at issue, and a certain knowledge 
of the ground which is assumed,) is Christianity as 
a religious system, is Christ in all his various rela- 
tions to mankind, and all his deeds and sufferings, 
his trials and his triumphs as recorded in the Bible, 
and presented to mankind for their reception and 
obedience, justly obnoxious to the charge ? Are his 
doctrines wonderful, and the facts related, on which 
our whole religion rests, mysterious, beyond our com 
prehension ? Is Christ a mystery ? Is Christianity 
a mystery ? And does the religion of the Son of 
God abound in mysteries ? Are we the " ambassa- 
dors for Christ," the " stewards of his mysteries ?" 
Do you partake of " holy mysteries ?" And is the 
union of us all with Christ, " bone of his bone, flesh 
of his flesh," some living on the earth, some with the 
temples of their bodies now dismantled in the grave, 
and their immortal spirits in the " paradise " of God, 
and Christ himself, here in the believer's heart, and 
there upon his throne in heaven — is this a mystery ? 
Is it a " mystery " that God became incarnate, born 
of a woman, and suffered the death of a transgres- 
sor ? Is it a " mystery " that you shall be baptized 
with water, and the holy flood shall wash away the 
soul's defilement, and leave embedded in the heart, 
to grow up to a tree of righteousness, the seed of 
spiritual life ? Is it a " mystery " that you shall 
break the bread and drink the wine of the great sa- 



22 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

crament, and thereby die with him upon the cross ; 
that therein, you shall eat and drink by faith the 
body and the blood of Jesus Christ, to every purpose 
of his passion ? Is it a " mystery " that angels 
throng the courts of this, the dwelling place of God, 
and, even now, we worship with the hosts of heaven 
before the mercy-seat, and only need the removal of 
the veil of our mortality, which yet obscures the light, to 
look direct upon the radiance, which, emanating from 
the throne, fills, with its lustre, all the universe but hell 
— and only want the opening of the ear of sense to 
hear the melodies of heaven ? 1 know — I feel, we 
walk so near the confines of eternity, that I have 
sometimes paused, upon the shore of time, to listen 
for the strains which holy angels play upon their 
harps of gold, and thought that I could see them at 
their minstrelsy ; and, (but for the loud clangour of 
this world's discordant sounds, which drowned the 
harmony of heaven,) the strain had reached mine 
ear ! And as I wander on, amid the turmoil and the 
strife of this world's occupations, and the trembling 
air is burdened with the mingled roar of trade and 
tribulation, and with the louder shouts of pastime and 
of passion, mine ear is ever cherishing the imagined 
sweetness of the angel's tone, and ever open for some 
living echo of the strains, which are struck in that 
better and peaceful land ! And only once again ; is 
it a " mystery " that you shall die, and live again — 
that, at the trump of God, the flesh, which shall have 
been corrupted by decay, and kept for centuries be- 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 23 

neath the monumental guard which faith and friend- 
ship have erected to watch over its repose, or been 
consigned a helpless captive, far down the ocean's 
depths, in some dark cave almost unfathomed by the 
lead of solar light, or, locked in the embraces of the 
sepulchre, shall, in an instant, with resistless power, 
part the ocean's waves, and heave, as if a feather's 
weight, the monumental pile, and break the iron 
bars, or roll away the stone which kept the en- 
trance of the sepulchre ? May we deny the charge ? 
Nay, these are " mysteries," and we must answer 
with the Apostle Paul, that " the mystery of godliness 
is great." 

Then, "without controversy," the " mystery of 
godliness " is great. We do not pretend that it is 
not ; we even assert that it is. And we come to you, 
" as ambassadors for Christ," not with the boasted 
conclusions of our own understanding, not with the 
noblest achievements of human intellect, not with 
the gatherings of our experience, but with a revela- 
tion from above, in language plain enough for you to 
read what has been written, and asserting what you 
cannot understand, but are not able to deny. We 
come to you, bearing in our unworthy hands the ora- 
cles of God, and demanding, as no favour unto us ? 
but on your peril, and as justice unto God, that you 
believe its truths, in order that you may obey. The 
facts are mysterious. This volume is a temple, de- 
signed by the " Father of lights," and erected by 



24 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

Him who fashioned the earth, and the sun, and the 
moon, and the stars ! Its maker and builder is God ; 
and we claim for it only the perfection and glory 
which belong to the rest of his works. It is the 
message of the " mysterious," the inscrutable God ; 
and we cannot accept as your answer, when we call 
upon you to be saved by the blood of the Saviour, 
the declaration, which is not disputed, of the mystery 
of the feet of atonement. Away, then, with the 
mockery of the unbeliever, and the scorn of the 
scorn er ; it recoils upon him ! It is as rational to re- 
quire that God should bound his own nature by the 
nature of man, as to make the plan of atonement 
like the devices of men. It is as rational to object 
to the truths of Christianity, because they are won- 
derful, when they claim to be so, as to object to be- 
nevolence because it is kind, when it claims to be 
charity itself! Ah! the seorner may delight for a 
while in his scorning — for it is his hour and the power 
of darkness— but the time is at hand, when the 
Almighty shall "laugh at his calamity, and mock 
when his fear cometh," and "the righteous shall have 
dominion over him in the morning!" 

Take heed, then, with what spirit you open the 
Scriptures, or listen to the ambassadors of Christ and 
"stewards of His mysteries," when they publish his 
marvellous word. With no pride of intellect, come, 
but in humble unquestioning faith ; not with the 
spirit which subjects to the test of man's knowledge 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 35 

the revelation from heaven, but that which, assured, 
from external evidence, of the origin of the Bible, 
takes all of its statements as true ; which believes, 
though the oracle be sealed ; which obeys, no matter 
what the command ; which at least will attempt the 
injunction, though it were the conflict with devils, or 
the removing of mountains, or the wresting the stars 
from the sky ! But there is nothing recorded which 
was not enacted, there is nothing commanded which 
cannot be done. But you cannot expect to commend 
it to the minds of ungodly men ; and you cannot ex- 
pect that its wisdom will be always approved by your 
own. And beware how you profanely compare it 
with the knowledge of men, how you dare to reject 
it, when its wisdom shall vary from the wisdom of 
men. Behold, I show you a " mystery," a wonder- 
ful thing, when I tell you of the incarnation of Jesus, 
and the redemption by his blood ; and yet on your 
faith in the doctrine, your salvation depends ! Be- 
hold, I show you a mystery," for the seed which thou 
sowest shall die, and be quickened again ! Behold, 
I show you a " mystery," for the dead shall be raised 
incorruptible, never to die ! And yet, if ye will 
hope to escape from damnation, and attain to the 
first resurrection, you must believe in the "mystery of 
godliness," that Jesus Christ was raised from the 
dead ! " O, the depth of the riches both of the 
wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable 
are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" 



26 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 

We but share with the angels their ignorance of his 
ways, till the time when the light of eternity shall 
reveal as much as even spirits may know of the 
mysteries of redeeming love, which are " the deep 
things of God," 



SEBMON II. 

GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 



Almighty and Everlasting God. who, of thy tender love toward man- 
kind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our 
flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow 
the example of his great humility ; mercifully grant, that we may both 
follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his 
resurrection ; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. 



SERMON II. 



"God icas manifest in the flesh." — 1 Timothy 3 : 16. 

Let us sit down, dear brethren, before this paint- 
ing, by the pencil of the Spirit^ of the more general 
characters of which we have already made our obser- 
vations, showing, in the words of the Apostle, that 
" the mystery of godliness is great," or else (in lan- 
guage which will be in keeping with the illustration 
which we used the other day, and to which we 
briefly, now, allude again,) that on the inspired can- 
vas, mystery, or wonderfulness, is the general colour- 
ing into which all other shades are blended. And 
now, that the mental eye has looked at large, and 
with delight, on its projecting figures, grouped as they 
are before us, and its pervading tone, which, of them- 
selves, are all sufficient to suggest to every " single 
eye " its origin, and to betray the pencil of the Spirit ; 
let us attempt to study one, and only one, of the 
main features which the Holy Spirit has so boldly 
drawn on the inspired page, with more of calmness, 
and without, if possible, the rapturous emotion which 
the contemplation of it, as a whole, is calculated to 



30 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

create ; and which is well deserved, indeed, by all 
that we are able to discover and appreciate of its in- 
trinsic merit. To estimate it fairly, would require 
the fulness of perfected knowledge, and the vision of 
an angel, and the light which beams in holier climes — 
the radiance of the throne ; while we are only able 
to regard it in the dubious light of this low world, 
and with imperfect sight, and through the film of hu- 
man prejudice, and the veil of sin. Yet notwith- 
standing, and under all these disadvantages, let it be 
our endeavour to study and to master it, as fully as 
we may. And as, while gazing at the whole, a light 
is shed upon the scene, revealing the minuter features 
of the plan* so that the hidden beauties of the piece 
seem to forsake the privacy and the seclusion in which 
the artist placed them, and in which they love to 
dwell, and to come out and meet us, crossing " the 
line of shadow and of sunshine," that they may come 
within the range of our imperfect vision, and stand 
arrayed in the same glory which is cast upon the 
whole ; so now, while our attention shall be riveted 
upon this single object, which is the fact, that " God 
was manifested in the flesh," we shall be able, not 
only to discover the elements and vastness of the 
figure, but its own minuter excellences shall in time 
become illumined, and approach us, as the ascend- 
ing sun of human knowledge casts its rays into the 
recesses and the slopes, and undulations of the 
mountain. 

And, as in every picture which is not a libel upon 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. q [ 

art, the most commanding object, from its size and 
other attributes, engages the attention first,— so the 
Apostle, here, has placed the first in the enumeration 
of the facts and doctrines, which make up the land- 
scape, the greatest mystery, the most gigantic truth, 
at which the enemies of the divinity of Christ are 
most offended, — the loftiest peak upon the ridge of 
u mysteries" — the mountain of the incarnation— 
whose summit (though the eye can reach to where 
its sides are first illumined by the glory of a higher 
world) is lost to human sight, in the illimitable space 
which stretches ever on toward the dwelling-place of 
God, or else, amid the lighter clouds which serve, by 
fold on fold of purest white, to screen the regions of 
eternity from time, and the mansions of the Deity 
from man ! This doctrine is indeed a mountain, 
which shelters from the tempests of God's wrath, an 
erring and defenceless race — and behold, I show to 
you a mystery — its structure and its elements are 
such as mark the everlasting hills — it is composed of 
earth (which is the emblem of humanity, which 
Christ assumed) and of the " Rock of Ages !" God 
" was manifest in flesh." 

Now we may assume without dispute, I trust, 
that all this language is applied to Jesus Christ — that 
the scene is meant to represent his character, and 
sufferings, and his achievements for our race — for of 
no other one in all the annals of mankind have these 
things ever been asserted, and by any been believed. 
It has not been pretended that in any other one 



32 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

among mankind, God has, in the order of these sev- 
eral propositions, and in any lawful sense which may 
be given to the language, been manifest in the flesh, 
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto 
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up 
into glory. An effort has indeed been made, to 
make the subject of all these assertions, not the Sa- 
viour, but the gospel which he preached ; as if, in 
any sense which is not palpably absurd, the gospel 
can be manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 
seen of angels, received up into glory ! The lan- 
guage can be sensibly applied, only to Christ, the 
subject of the gospel, working out the mysterious 
plan of our salvation. And it is apparent, that the 
reason why this forced and strange interpretation has 
been given, by the enemies of " the truth as it is in 
Jesus," is, that they saw, that if it were taken in its 
obvious meaning, it would most unquestionably teach 
(what it was meant to teach) the divinity of Jesus 
Christ! One thing at least the authors and abettors 
of such an interpretation do effect, which is to make 
the truth a " mystery," as, of the gospel being mani- 
fest in flesh, and seen of angels, and received up into 
glory! — which is, what they desire to avoid — and 
which, after all, is not so much a " mystery," as a 
contradiction of our reason, and an absurdity. Need 
I say that we reject it ? Your minds, no doubt, 
already have forecasted the conclusion, and made it 
as your own decision. 

These words are spoken, then, of Jesus Christ, 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 33 

throughout the members of this passage, and hence 
the words, which meet us first, and which we are 
considering to-day. And here arises the objection of 
the adversary of the " Lord Jesus," and his Church ; 
and here alone is need of argument; for if we can 
establish or believe, that, God, himself, in his own 
individuality and person, did become incarnate, how- 
ever we may wonder, with adoring awe, at what is 
afterwards recorded, the subsequent assertions being 
less mysterious, will demand but little argument upon 
their truth. Here is the main defence of infidelity ; 
and if the castle, the strong-hold, the capitol be taken 
and be held, the weaker points, (although perhaps 
more beautiful in climate and in scenery,) can make 
but small defence, and resistance, elsewhere, will be 
faint ! So, in the case before us, the demonstration 
of the truth of the divinity of Jesus Christ (I mean 
his personal existence and divinity from all eternity) 
involves the carrying and possession of the points, or 
truths which lie beyond it, or by which it is sur- 
rounded ! 

What is the meaning then of this assertion, 
" God was manifest in the flesh ?" Is not the language 
unequivocal and direct — and, as it stands, (having 
already ascertained, what is not now disputed, that 
whatever be the meaning of his language here, the 
Apostle wrote, what he has written, concerning Jesus 
Christ,) is it not evident, that a mind unprejudiced, 
which has no theory already to support, must take 
it as asserting that Jesus Christ was God — that " he 
3 



34 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

was in the Father, and the Father was in him r" 
The Apostle here is speaking, (it will be conceded,) 
of the presence in, and the union of some other na- 
ture, or another person, with, the " flesh," the hu- 
manity of the person who is here the subject of dis- 
course, who is, (confessedly, whether he be alleged to 
be divine or human,) " the man Christ Jesus ;" and 
speaking of that flesh, (for bear in mind that the ex- 
pression in the text " the flesh" is conceded to de- 
note, not our humanity in general, but that peculiar 
individual, who is recognized respectively, as " Jesus 
of Nazareth" and " Christ" and " Jesus Christ," 
" the Saviour," and "the Son of Man,") speaking of 
that " flesh," that body, that corporeal being, that 
humanity, the Apostle plainly, (we might almost call 
it bluntly,) says, that God was in him, and was 
manifestly in him — or, in other words, that he was 
God. I do maintain, that such is the only natural 
and plain meaning of this language, by all the estab- 
lished rules of logical interpretation. 

This charge, alone, if followed up, will take the 
castle, and the adversary will at length be forced to a 
surrender, unless he means to perish, in his works, by 
" the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 
But since he has displayed against this fair interpre- 
tation, all his power, and seems to be making, here, 
his main defence, as if he thought that this one 
charge embraces all the force at our disposal, — and 
for the sake of mercy, to convince him before the 
ruin overtakes him, that defence will be impossible, 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 35 

I shall bring up yet other divisions of the forces to 
make the victory appear inevitable — while, still, 
(apparently with undiminished numbers,) the inspired 
forces of the kingdom are resting in reserve, armed 
with " the whole armour of God." It were a vain 
and merciless proceeding, to array the hosts of pas- 
sages, which are equipped with weapons for this 
warfare, against a single point, however well defended. 
It were a needless thing to summon, to surround a 
fort, manned by a handful of brave men, however 
reckless of their danger, the entire forces of a king- 
dom which is " everlasting." The rest shall storm, 
in turn, whatever other points may be discovered, 
where infidelity has rallied. 

The Saviour, and the holy band of his Apostles, 
have called the Christian life a warfare — we are 
termed the soldiers of the kingdom — when we were 
first enrolled in holy Baptism we were signed with 
the sign of the cross, " in token that hereafter we 
should not be ashamed to fight manfully under the 
banner of Christ, against sin, the world, and the 
devil" — we are exhorted to " put on the whole armour 
of God" — and we hesitate not to speak of " the noble 
army of martyrs," who have died in defence of the 
truth — and " the word of God is called the sword of 
the Spirit." You will pardon me, then, if (in justice to 
the figure which we have begun) I array the subse- 
quent forces under the general authority of those 
from whose writings the texts are produced, for I 



36 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

desire to give all of the glory to them, and, through 
them, to the Spirit of God. 

Now, the enemy also expects that disagreement 
in the ranks will hinder the success of our arms, but 
there is a perfect unity which prevails among all 
of the host, and they move on to the support of 
each other. 

First of all, saith the Almighty, by the mouth of 
the Prophet Isaiah, " thus saith the Lord, the King 
of Israel, (and who is Christ but Israel's king, the 
king of the Jews ?) and his Redeemer, the Lord of 
Hosts, (and who but Christ is confessed to have been, 
in some way, the Redeemer ?) I am the First, and 1 
am the Last, and besides me there is no God !" And 
again, " I, even I am the Lord, and besides me there 
is no Saviour!" Then St. Peter declares that "our 
Lord and Saviour, is Jesus Christ !" 

Then, the Saviour himself beareth witness, " I 
and my Father are one n — one in origin, one in ex- 
istence and knowledge, one in the power of miracles 
and the wisdom of God. 

Then, St. John, the Apostle, declares, that " He 
was manifested and came in the flesh, who was the 
Son of God." 

Then St. Paul to the Romans, " He that was 
God, blessed for evermore, was also of the seed of 
David, according to the flesh." And again, to the 
Colossians, " He was filled with all the fulness of 
God." Again, to the Philippians, " He who was in 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 



37 



the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal 
with God." 

And then St. John, in his Gospel, which was 
written after all, as if to put an end to the matter 
which is now in discussion, " the Word was in the 
beginning with God, and the Word was God." 

These are all that I shall bring — all the battle I 
shall set in array against the citadel of the foe. 
These are more than enough to accomplish the vic- 
tory, and, sooner or later, they shall hang out " the 
banner of Christ" from its walls, to be hailed by 
the shouts of the " soldiers of God," and the eyes 
and the hearts of a ransomed world, with its inscrip- 
tion, "Jehovah is Jesus, and Christ is the Saviour, 
and the Saviour is God ! !" 

Another truth now awaits your attention, which, 
however, has been somewhat involved in what has 
already been said, that God was " incarnate," " born 
of a woman," " made in the likeness of man." In- 
deed, it is bound up with the first term of the propo- 
sition before us, for God and humanity compose the 
wonderful being of whom the declaration is made. 

Where the union of natures is such and so close, 
that one person embraces them both, it must be that 
the decision of one part of the sentence affirming the 
fact, will necessarily prejudge the other ; so it fol- 
lows, at once, the assertion, that it was God who 
was made flesh, that God was incarnate. And inas- 
much as the humanity of Christ is not disputed, and 
is ecjually sustained, with the divinity of the Saviour, 



38 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

in the passages which I have quoted, I am content 
to leave it, with only the statement of the perfectness 
of the humiliation and, at the same time, his freedom 
from guilt. 

It is enough, then, to state that he became verily 
man, that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, of 
the Virgin Mary, and was born, as we are born, into 
the life of this world. He took our nature upon him, 
with all of its frailties, sin only excepted. He suf- 
fered more than all that humanity can bear, sustained 
by the power and by the angels of God, giving proof, 
by the hardships he suffered, and the pangs he en- 
dured, of the reality of his humiliation, and a pledge 
that he could be touched with a feeling of our infir- 
mities — and, " He was made sin for us who knew no 
sin." And to recur, for a moment, to the similitude 
of a mountain, to which I likened this doctrine in the 
beginning, the adversary will allow that it is built of 
inferior earth, but denies that the mountain abounds 
with the rock which gives it its form, and glory, and 
worth, even the " Rock of Ages. 15 But without it, 
the pile would be washed away, as the mounds of 
earth, by the flood ; while, because it is also built of the 
rock which endures, it shall ever remain the Ararat of 
our hopes, on which the ark of God's Church shall 
be resting while the billows of life are surging around 
it, and when the last eminence of time is submerged 
in the limitless sea of eternity ! 

But why was all this ? For we cannot pass over 
the object of this condescension. For what was the 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 39 

Almighty incarnate ? What errand brought him 
down from the sky? What condition of things could 
demand that he should " empty himself of his glory," 
and take up with a manger, instead of a throne, and 
a cross, and a purple robe, and a crown of thorns, 
instead of the mansions of glory, and his raiment of 
light, and the emblems of his power r Alas, let the 
heart of each one of us all confess the solution. I will 
not tell of the transgression in Eden, nor how the 
earth has been full of violence, and the soil on which 
men are dependent, has been stained by their blood. 
I will not tell, how, in ages gone by, the rebellion of 
man has opened the vials of wrath, and drowned the 
earth with a flood. I will not tell, how the Son of 
the Highest, when he came, was " reviled and rejected 
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" 
— how he suffered the death of transgressors, while 
the accents of pity were heard in his anguish, and 
the words of compassion and mercy, fell from his 
lips — nor how that strange crucifixion, while it pur- 
chased the forfeited souls of mankind, brought down 
on the nation who cast him away, the bitterest curse 
which was ever inflicted on earth, which the captivity 
and unending distress of more than five thousand 
generations of men, has not fulfilled, nor the lapse of 
ages on ages wasted away. But I appeal to the 
heart, which now lives, and now beats in the breast 
of each one, for the cause of this amazing conde- 
scension, and sorrow, and shame. It is the iniquity 



40 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

of which we have been guilty — it is the rebellion of 
those who now live on the earth. And as we stand 
at the foot of the cross, to contemplate that wonder- 
ful scene, unless the heart has been hardened to stone, 
and every fountain of feeling is closed, our head will 
be waters, and our eyes fountains of tears ; and the 
half suppressed groan of the spirit, will be uttering 
language like this : "for us, men, and for our salva- 
tion " — O God, have mercy upon us — have mercy — 
have mercy upon us ! 

And once more, this indwelling of Cod in the 
flesh, was manifested to men ; for such is the une- 
quivocal language before us. Not inhabiting there in 
an undefined and mysterious way, so that no man 
could know of his presence, but so evidently, mani- 
festly there, that all men might know and believe. 
He was shown by his works — they bore witness of 
him — for he said, if ye believe not me, believe the 
works which ] do. And well did they testify of him, 
when he healed the sick, and cleansed the lepers, and 
opened the eyes of the blind ; when he cast out the 
devils, and raised up the dead, and foretold them the 
things that should be; when he did "the works 
which none other man did," and " spake as never man 
spake," and suffered, as only God can endure. What 
was it, but the manifestation of God, which compelled 
the adoration of men? What was it, but the mani- 
festation of God, which made the devils ohcv: 
What was it, but the manifestation of God, in the 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 4| 

proofs of his crucified body being raised from the 
dead, which extorted from incredulous Thomas, the 
words, " My Lord and my God ?" 

Then, is not " the mystery of godliness great ?" 
Is not this one fact, of the incarnation of God, a 
wonderful thing ? Does it not exceed and surpass the 
utmost devices of men ? Does not the fact, which 
you dare not deny, overreach and baffle the compre- 
hension of man r Tell me, ye men who ridicule the 
thought that there are wonderful things in the Bible — 
whose loftiness of intellect is such, that ye can mea- 
sure the Almighty with a span — the compass of whose 
intellect is such that it embraces all — to whom the 
ways of God himself, his movements through the 
circle of eternity, are but as tracks upon the sands of 
human life — who, beyond your fellows and beyond 
angelic power, can pierce the veil which hides the 
secret things belonging unto God — and whose pro- 
fundity of mind is such, that the " deep things of 
God," where angels cannot fathom, are but as shal- 
lows where your gigantic intellects may wade — before 
the magic influence of whose acumen, all difficulties 
cease, all mysteries dissolve, as vanish from before 
the sun, the shades of night and mists of early morn — 
who travel on, where even inspiration falters, and 
stand unmoved where the Apostles trembled, and 
whose admission to the skies, the hosts of heaven 
wait, to be instructed, by you, in the lore to which 
the cherubim and seraphim are strangers, though 
clothed with immortality — tell me, I say, if ye can 



42 GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH. 

find no mystery around you ? no wonder-working 
power in the life in which the universe, and all that 
therein is, has been, and is sustained ? Tell me, ye 
men of understanding, is there no mystery in human 
parentage, and human birth ? Is there no mystery, 
no exercise of God's omnipotence, withdrawn from 
human sight, in that anterior life, which ripens to ex- 
istence at the dawn of our nativity ? Is there no 
mystery in the alleged conception of the Virgin, only 
betrothed? none in the overshadowing of the Holy 
Spirit ? none in the fact that God became incarnate ? 
God, gathered in the bounds of human nature ? God, 
wrapped about with garments of an earthly texture ? 
God, folded in the arms of human friendship? God, 
buffeted and smitten with a reed ? none in immensity 
embraced within an atom — the expanse of heaven, 
crowded in the compass of the earth — eternity in 
the least part of time ? 

Alas! for you, if ye can fathom depths like these, 
and comprehend all mysteries, what is there yet in 
store for you, when God shall roll away the clouds of 
sense, and we shall put on immortality ? What 
prospect is before you? What hope of something 
yet to come, shall serve you as an anchor of the soul, 
in the restless heaving of life's waters, and the storms 
of human passion ? By what promises of increase 
and of glory, shall your longing souls be satisfied ? 
your bosoms be consoled ? 

Dear brethren — let others mock at mysteries, and 
meet the scorner's doom ! For ,us, our imperfections 



GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH, 43 

of knowledge and of character, but point us to futu- 
rity, where "just men are made perfect ;" and, if 
we have but faith in revelation, the twilight of our 
present ignorance is eloquent of the approaching 
dawn of an eternal day ! " For, now we see through 
a glass darkly, but then face to face ; now we know 
in part, but then shall we know even as also we are 
known." 



SEEMON III. 

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 



O God, who, as at this time, didst teach the hearts of thy faithful peo- 
ple, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit ; grant us, by the 
same Spirit, to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice 
in his holy comfort ; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who 
liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, 
world without end. Amen. 



SERMON III. 



'•Justifed in the Spirit " — 1 Timothy 3:16. 

Dear Brethren — on the resumption of this sub- 
ject, let us acknowledge our indebtedness to God, for 
his kind preservation. While we have paused to return 
our thanks to God, for all the mercies of the year, to 
draw, from the review^ of all his benefits, reproof of 
our ingratitude, and stimulus to greater holiness of 
living, as well as greater thankfulness of heart ; and 
paused again to take account of time, as a new year 
has opened on the Church ; and paused to bid 
you bear in mind the wonderful decease of Jesus 
Christ, accomplished on Mount Cavalry, for us, and 
our salvation, and to comply with his command to 
keep the feast, which he has ordered in commemora- 
tion of his death, and so to watch for his appearing; 
while we have paused, to feed you with far better 
than the husks of man's invention, than the words 
of human wisdom, even with " the bread Avhich came 
from heaven," to make a sacrifice to God, and offer 
incense to his name, upon our holy hill ; to catch, 
from the last point of time, the tidings of the great 



43 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

achievement, and light another signal-fire, which shall 
proclaim still further on, the mighty struggle of the 
Son of Man, and his great victory — while, in obedi- 
ence to his command, and in the exercise of ghostly 
strength imparled at the time of our commission and 
now sustained by the Almighty Spirit standing by to 
help, we have been labouring to mould your spirits in 
the " quick-forge and working-house " of the great 
sacrament, and by a sacramental energy, to weld 
them on the chain of souls, which reaches back 
through all the ages of the saints, and which the Son 
of Man at last shall take, while every link shall be 
refined from dross, and shine with immortality, and 
wear it in his kingdom — while thus we have obeyed 
the call of God's own Spirit, by his gracious Provi- 
dence we have been all preserved, and the angel of 
destruction has passed by ! 

We thank him, that he has permitted us to 
come again, within the temple of the sacred volume, 
which is hung round and is adorned with countless 
paintings, by the Spirit, representing to our mortal 
sight, the scenes of earth, and unexplored and bound- 
less regions of eternity ; portraying, for our learning 
and delight, the barrenness of that vast wilderness 
in which we rove, the " wilderness of sin," and the 
fertility and beauty of our future heritage, to lure 
us to the skies — and representing to the life, in all 
its feebleness and insignificance, our poor humanity, 
contrasted with the stupendous and unmeasured 
height of all the attributes of Deity ; and even 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 49 

shadowing forth the joys of which we cannot alto- 
gether now conceive, and admitting to our feeble 
sight, some little of the " light which no man may 
approach unto." 

See, where, upon one side, there hangs the dark 
and dismal portraiture of human guilt, relieved by but 
one ray of hope, which plays alone amid the darkness, 
even the promise of redemption. 

And, on another, where appears the tragic scene 
of the atonement — the death of Christ, and in his 
death his victory — where light and darkness, for a 
while, are struggling for the mastery, but where the 
mingled gloom leads on to greater darkness, and 
then, to where the Sun of righteousness, just now 
eclipsed, emerges from the night, and bathes crea- 
tion in his flood of living light, and dissipates the 
gloom ! 

See, where there hangs in yet another pla.ce, the 
portraiture of heaven and of hell — in which, by con- 
trast, heaven is brighter by the night of hell, and hell 
is darker by the light of heaven — and each is filled 
with spirits of angelic form who stand arrayed in 
glory, or else are dimly seen moving upon their errand 
of darkness, and of death ! 

See, where there hangs, in still another place, in 
colours of true life, the long procession of the earlier 
saints, with aspect gentle and benign — where Adam 
and Abraham, with their associates, appear, when 
yet the term of human life had not been shortened 
by transgression, but in the hoary head was seen, 
4 



50 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

" the dawning of another life, which even here broke 
over their horizon !" 

And then, a little further on, behold a nation, 
wearing the chain of bondage, and the livery of their 
captivity — and, by the river's bank, the homeless 
minstrels of Jerusalem ; whose harps (now hung upon 
the willows which are weeping with them in their 
lot, and sympathizing with them in the depth of their 
calamity) are useless, (even if their hearts could 
have awaked a song and melody in their heaviness,) 
for the cords are moistened by the tears of their cap- 
tivity, and, like the heart-strings of the captives, are 
relaxed, and their virtue and their music has departed : 
—and see how heaven itself is habited in clouds as 
weeds of mourning, and how the waters hush their 
anthem, and pass quietly and silently along, respect- 
ing their affliction ! 

Ana 1 then, upon the other side, (for to the Spirit, 
past and present and to come are all alike, and live 
as in the compass of to-day,) behold a scene of uni- 
versal violence — the host of the believers, whose 
weapons are not carnal, and whose kingdom is not 
of this world, flying before the sword of persecution — 
see plains and valleys red and fertile with the blood 
of saints — see heaven darkened with the smoke of 
human hecatombs, and fitfully illumined by the flames 
of martyrdom — while, here and there, are seen the 
crosses of Apostles, worthy to suffer death upon the 
tree, and imitate the crucifixion ! 

And then, upon the other side, a peaceful valley 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 51 

of repose — where multitudes are dwelling in security, 
where the little ones are sanctified, and manhood's 
self is meek, and the aged are all happy — most whole- 
some is the climate of the valley, 

" And over all is the sky, the clear and crystaline heaven, 
Like the protecting hand of God, inverted above them." 

And then, a little further on, the last great con- 
test of the saints, with the ranks of those who war 
against the Almighty, in which the tide of the in- 
vaders of God's kingdom, rolls back again to hell, 
the deep of angry passions, and the home of sorrow's 
waves ! 

And then, just near the holy place, the long pro- 
cession of the saints of every age, upon the resur- 
rection morn, which passes on, as the " gates " of 
glory " lift their heads," and amid the fullest, longest, 
loudest, sweetest minstrelsy of angels, and the cho- 
rus of the saints, the " King of glory " with his reti- 
nue of shining and immortal spirits, enters in ! Be 
still — for you are in the temple of the Deity, and 
every where, the master-works of inspiration live 
around you on its walls ! 

My brethren, we have pointed you to but a few 
of the great works around you, and yet we may 
have seemed to " linger in the temple." But, how 
could 1 refrain from speaking hastily of these, as we 
proceeded to the one which we have been consider- 
ing, which is the Altar-piece in the vast temple of the 
Scriptures, and among the noble w T orks of super- 
human art, by which it is surrounded ? Yes, we have 



5-2 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

lingered through the temple, (and I would, I would 
to God that we might dwell for ever there,) and my 
delay must have encroached upon the time which we 
can give to the consideration of this piece, whose 
study we have been permitted to resume. But still 
I trust that we shall be more fitted to estimate it 
fairly, by the rapid survey of some other works by 
which the temple is adorned. And happy shall I be, 
if the indulgence of my ecstasy shall make you often 
to revisit it, and love the Bible more ! 

Come, then, and sit down with me here, in quiet 
contemplation. 

You will remember, that we have discussed the 
general colouring, in the declaration that " the mys- 
tery of godliness is great" — and the most prominent 
of all the features of the piece, the boldest, loftiest 
peak upon the ridge of mysteries, the mountain of 
the incarnation — in the saying, " God was manifested 
in the flesh." And now your attention must be gh en 
to the words, he " was justified in the Spirit" — being 
the light by which the figures gain their promi- 
nence, and the whole has been revealed! With ad- 
mirable skill (for another order might perhaps have 
been adopted) the Apostle places next to the great fact 
of the Saviour's incarnation, his "justification in the 
Spirit " — and this testimony of the Spirit (given at 
various times, which we shall presently consider) is 
that which reveals the fact of the atonement, and 
fixes, in all respects, the character of the Messiah — 
and is the light of truth, streaming from heaven, by 



THE WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT. 53 

which the landscape is made visible and plain ! And, 
true to nature, as to art, he leads us now to speak of 
revelation, or the witness of the Spirit, as, after con- 
templating the boldest feature of a plan, we naturally 
turn and say, " How well the light is shed upon the 
scene ! how it makes the mountain loom in simple 
majesty, above the undulations of the plain !" 

Now, this light of revelation, you perceive, fails 
not at once, from all the dome of heaven, but, through 
the fissures of the clouds, (when visions were vouch- 
safed, and graces have descended,) at intervals, it 
shines in mellowed richness, and in softened splen- 
dour, and melts away on either hand, into the shad- 
ows of the intervening clouds. 

The periods and modes in which this testimony 
has been given, are these — the " prophecies which 
went before " — the testimony of the Spirit, while 
Christ was manifested in the flesh — and since, in the 
fulfilment of his promise to the Church, (dependent 
on the truth of his divinity, and union with the flesh,) 
by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, on every gen- 
eration. And as, when shining from the zenith, the 
rays which are refracted, or pass obliquely through 
the clouds, on either hand, are milder than the rays 
which fall directly on the earth — so, too, the testi- 
mony, which was given by the Spirit, before and sub- 
sequent to the event, though clear enough to reveal 
the truth to our perception, is gentler than the blaze 
of noonday, at the time of his humiliation! And 
surely, if we shall find, rather, if it be so, that inspi- 



54 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

ration, both before, and at the time, and since the 
incarnation, has testified (now testifies, for it is 
shining still) to its reality — that mountain truth must 
grow in our esteem, and assume its just proportions, 
and become a shelter, from the tempests of God's 
wrath, for our defenceless race. 

First, then, this light is shed from the " prophe- 
cies which went before " — and how constant is this 
testimony of the Spirit, recurring through all the 
prophecies of those who " spake as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost !" How uniform the witness 
which they bear to what should be the character of 
the Messiah ! No circumstance, however trifling, 
failed to be predicted, from his conception of a Virgin, 
to his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension 
into heaven : — (the time of his approach — the manger 
for his cradle — his obedience and sufferings — his grare 
with the rich, and his death with the transgressors — 
his name implying not alone his errand, but his ever- 
lasting Sonship, and his right to all the fulness of the 
Godhead, bodily — his nature in all attributes complete, 
as Son of God, and Son of Man — ) and clear enough, 
though mild in the comparison, for those to whom it 
was addressed, and for whose instruction it was given, 
to see, and know, and understand the office and the 
attributes, the full humanity and perfect deity of 
Him, of whom the prophets wrote : and, while they 
prophesied of him, the works of wonder which they 
wrought, by the assistance of the Spirit, bore testi- 
mony to the inspiration of the prophecies which they 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 55 

delivered. And so the Saviour, when he came into 
the world, bade them to " search the Scriptures- — -for 
in them," said he, " ye think ye have eternal life : 
and they are they which testify of me." But the 
time would fail me now, to quote for you the lan- 
guage of those Scriptures, to which the Saviour has 
appealed — nor is it needed — for they are ever with you, 
and I trust you know them well. I can only follow- 
in the line of that appeal, and bid you search them 
for yourselves — and see, that if some of the lesser 
prophets, with but a dubious light, and insufficient, if 
alone, shine on this truth, Isaiah throws a clearer ray- 
on all the character of the Messiah. If they but 
keep alive a gentler note, and give the under-song of 
prophecy, Isaiah strikes a bolder strain upon the 
golden harp of inspiration. And while, as if too far 
away, their feebler notes scarce reach, if unaccom- 
panied by stronger tones, the listening ear, (with 
undiminished strength, and beauty, and distinctness,) 
his fuller harmonies are borne upon the gale, or float 
upon the tranquil sea of time, (whose waves have 
sunk to rest, since they were troubled by the storm, 
and since the tempest of the present has swept on to 
vex the coming time, and left them in the past ;) or 
else, come down the track of memory, to fill the 
chambers of the mind ! And Malachi, so near the 
advent of Messiah, and, with his distinct annuncia- 
tion of the coming of Elias, is, as a solitary ray, for 
which the cloud is rent, not far from where the sun. 
with a full disk, shines out upon the world ! 



56 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

Wo come, now, to the testimony of the Spirit, at 
the time of his sojourn on earth, and his humiliation. 
But how shall I recount the throng of merciful and 
mighty works, by which the power and benevolence 
of God, "showed forth themselves in him?" How 
can I tell the amount of testimony ? It is contained 
in his miraculous conception — in every circumstance 
of his eventful life, answering to the predictions of 
the prophets. It is contained in his miraculous 
knowledge — (which is the gift of God to none but the 
deserving — ) for it is written that, not only at the age 
of twelve, without the opportunities for other know- 
ledge than children may acquire, he confounded all 
the doctors of the law, but it is frequently repeated, 
on the authority of inspiration, that he knew what 
was in man, and saw what was impossible for human 
sight, and knew beforehand all that should come to 
pass. It consists moreover in the voice of God the 
Father, proclaiming his relationship to him, and own- 
ing Christ to be His Son — and in the Spirit himself 
descending, as a dove, to rest upon him, at the moment 
of his baptism with the baptism of John. It is con- 
tained in the works which he did, which no other 
man did, and which were done in the power of the 
Spirit of God. It is contained in the words which 
he uttered, when he " spake as never man spake," 
and spake by the " Spirit of wisdom." It is contained 
in the wrongs he endured, sustained by the Spirit of 
grace and of comfort. It was shown in the Godlike 
forgiveness of those who oppressed him, and pursued 



THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 57 

him to the death of the cross — when he blessed them, 
again and again, and in his agony, prayed for their 
pardon, to God, and cheerfully died in their stead. 
And, above all, it is furnished by the fact that his 
body was raised from the dead by the Spirit of God, 
and, by the same power, he ascended to heaven. And 
all these were performed with such force and authority, 
and such a clear manifestation of the fulness of the 
power of God, as to compel the submission of devils, 
as well as to secure the adoration of men. And in 
all these respects, he answered to " the prophecies 
going before," which required that the Saviour should 
fulfil these predictions, and accomplish these things. 
What more could be required of the Spirit in bearing 
witness to Christ, than these open avowals of his 
perfect divinity in these wonderful things ? What 
were they — but the " manifestation of God " in 
the flesh ? What more could the Father have done, 
than declare that Christ was his Son ? What more 
could the Spirit, but, in the form of a dove, in a 
tangible if not in a visible way, come down, and sit upon 
Him ? What a crown ! and who could be worthy to 
wear it, but the God of the universe, the Creator of 
heaven and earth ! Oh, here is no doubtful assertion, 
no dubious light — the testimony is explicit enough — 
and the witness himself, who w T ill dare to impeach ? 
Any exercise of the Spirit of God, by one who was 
claiming to be equal with God, and to be the Saviour 
who should come into the world, is as much a proof 
of the truth of his claims, as the highest exhibition 



58 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

of power — for in either case it is the gratuitous wit- 
ness of the Spirit of God. But here, where the least 
gift of the Spirit were enough to sanction his claim, 
the evidences are crowded in rapid succession, and 
the assurance is made doubly sure. And if the rajs 
have been single — and the light has fitfully fallen, 
before, in the times which preceded his coming — 
now, surely, they are gathered together, and the Sun 
of revelation has scattered the clouds, and come out 
from his chamber, and the Son of the Highest stands 
revealed in the meridian splendour, without a shadow 
to mar his proportions — in a glorious light, like that of 
the Transfiguration — only subdued, by the medium of 
sensible things, lest the mortal eye should be blinded. 
The last period, is that which is still going on, of 
the gifts of the Spirit to the disciples of Christ, of 
every generation. Oh ! what a flood of light was 
poured upon the character, and claims, and gospel of 
Messiah, on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit 
came in living fire, and spake with cloven tongues ! 
Too strong and clear, for a distorted, jaundiced vision 
to behold — for there were some who turned away, and 
sought the shades of earth, and the dark night of sin — 
but full enough, and none too bright, for penitential, 
tearful eyes, and the strong eyes of faith. But not 
less is the witness of the Spirit now, because the 
light has been diffused. It is less strong in any corner, 
of the earth, than in the temple at Jerusalem, where 
first the Holy Ghost was given — but even with a 
milder lustre, its aggregate is more and more, as it 



THE WITNESS OP THE SPIRIT. 59 

shines on to our day, and will increase, as it lights up, 
beyond, the impenetrable darkness of futurity. Be- 
hold it, in the characters and the achievements of the 
saints, who ever since, along the ages that have fol- 
lowed, have enjoyed his gifts — their meekness and 
their prowess — their trembling hope and their tri- 
umphant faith — their love — their charity — their deeds 
of most heroic daring — their submission unto death ! 
These all, are testimonies, of the Spirit, to the divinity, 
and the humanity of Christ, for they are given in 
exact fulfilment of his promise, and thereby demon- 
strate both his power and his truth. Behold it, in 
the efficacious sacraments, and every hallowed means 
of grace, set forth by his command. See how the 
Dove (when properly invoked) descends upon the 
holy font ! See, how he perches on the apostle's 
hands, and on the contrite sinner's head, in the holy 
rite of confirmation ! See, how the testimony of the 
Spirit flashes from the " quick-forge " of the great 
sacrament ? What can they not bestow ? Birth — 
life — lifegiving, heavenly food — a hope fast anchored 
— faith in things invisible — faith which scales the bat- 
tlements of truth, and takes the citadel of knowledge — 
a glorious victory in death — and life for evermore ! 
these are the gifts, and witness of the Spirit. And 
these shall witness, at the last, for his divinity, and 
against us, if we refuse to worship him as God, and 
stumble in the day. 

And now observe, my brethren, how all these dis- 
tant rays combine, in producing the result — the 



60 THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 

varied, living landscape, the harmonious whole — how 
he has so arranged it that the earlier witness of the 
Spirit shall mildly light the back-ground of the moun- 
tain, that its vast magnitude may be observed ; and 
so arranged the later light which falls in our day, this 
side of the meridian, that the " prophecies which 
went before " shall cause no lengthening shadow to 
be cast on us, or future generations, to hide its glori- 
ous form, or to deceive the eye ! See, how the truth 
projects upon the canvas — and the mountain of the 
incarnation stands before us, in the light of day — its 
breadth and everlasting base revealed by what has 
gone before, and followed the atonement — (by rays 
which fell among the former saints, within the night- 
encircled borders of Judea, and now fall upon the 
universal church — ) its sides and summit bathed with 
light which falls from the meridian — its altitude un- 
measured still ! How perfect is the revelation ! It 
is the justification of the Spirit ! None but the blind, 
can fail to see the fact of his divinity ! 



SERMON IV. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 



O Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of 
angels and men in a wonderful order ; mercifully grant, that as thy holy 
angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may 
succour and defend us on earth ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



SERMON IV. 



" Seen of Angels." — 1 Tim. 3:16. 

Again, dear brethren, we are suffered to ap- 
proach the temple of the sacred volume, to resume 
our pleasing occupation, and to study jet another 
feature in the piece, where the Apostle has assembled 
several of the greatest mysteries, and most interest- 
ing truths of revelation, around the stupendous object 
of the incarnation ! And, as we enter, let us look 
a single moment, (it will not delay us long,) upon 
the frontispiece which hangs here, at the portal of 
the Temple — where Moses, in the Book of Genesis, 
describes the work of the creation. I have a rea- 
son for this course which you will presently dis- 
cover. 

Look, where at first, a universal chaos reigns, 
before the birth of nature, and darkness broods upon 
the deep — while all the elements which are to consti- 
tute this lower world, and all the atoms which have 
just been spoken into being, are tossing in the wild 
confusion of the darkest, earliest night of tumult and 
disorder, on which the morning ever broke — a night, 



64 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

impenetrable unto us, but for the light of revela- 
tion, which has since been thrown into the shades 
which lie beyond the morning of creation ! 

See, where the Spirit, with a generative power, is 
moving on the waters — and gathers the scattered 
atoms to their place, and gives them the warm pulse 
of life, activity, and order. 

And now, the morning follows, and the bond 
which made the light and darkness one, is broken, 
and from that union which destroyed their indi- 
viduality, the light and shade appear divorced for 
ever. 

Now see, the ethereal arch of heaven, as it spans 
the yet tumultuous waste of waters, out of which the 
earth is to appear, and separates them from the 
waters which are above the firmament of heaven. 

And now, as morning dawns again upon crea- 
tion, ocean retires to its bounds, and the dry land on 
which shall be performed the woful scene of the 
transgression, and the amazing tragedy of the atone- 
ment — which shall become the theatre of God incar- 
nate, 'of angels combating with devils, and devils 
wrestling with the souls of men, appears, adorned 
with every kind of tree, and shrub, and flower, and 
clothed in living green. 

Now see, the rays of light, which heretofore have 
seemed to come from every where, (like arrows scat- 
tered carelessly upon the ground, or emptied slowly 
from the quiver,) are gathered to one brilliant spot, 
and form the orb of day — and how, for the first time, 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 



65 



the shades of night are now alleviated, and the earth 
half smiles in its repose, as the shining moon controls 
the darkness, and point after point of purest light 
pierces the veil ! 

And now, the sun with his warm rajs, broods on 
the ocean, and lo, the great deep conceives, and 
bears the winged fowl that fly above the earth, and 
every living creature " that walketh through the paths 
of the seas." 

And now, the mighty womb of earth brings 
forth the living creature, and the cattle, and the 
creeping thing, strong and perfected at the moment 
of their birth. 

And now behold, the great Creator takes the dust 
of earth, and, as the potter with the clay, he moulds 
it to the figure of a man, and blows upon it with his 
breath, and man, a living soul, and in the likeness of 
the Deity, stands up the undisputed, and invested, 
monarch of creation. 

And now, creation, and its Maker, are at rest — 
and the bright sun, as he ascends the sky, looks down 
upon a scene of wonderful tranquillity. Only, the 
trees are gently waving to the breeze, which bids 
them join the universal anthem, and bow their heads, 
in answer to the " morning stars " who sing together, 
and the " sons of God " shouting for joy — and man, 
and all the creatures of the earth and of the air, are 
uttering their melodies, and ocean, over which the 
Sabbath calm presides, looks up to the Creator, who 
" holds it in the hollow of his hand V as does an in- 
5 



(3(J THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

fant in its parent's arms — and as the breezes here 
and there (which are the breathings of the Infinite,) 
create a dimple on its placid face, smiles upon God ! 

But come — we cannot tarry longer here, but must 
go on, towards the holy place and to the Altar-piece, 
to resume our contemplation. 1 bade you pause and 
glance a moment, at this frontispiece by which the 
portal is adorned,- because, even here, in the earliest 
scenes of the creation, (as in the closing scene of 
time, they are the ministers of vengeance,) we find 
the " morning stars," and " sons of God," who are 
the " Angels " who will be the subjects of our study 
at this time, and are discovered every where, through- 
out the temple, in many of the paintings of the Spirit. 
You see them here — waiting on the Messiah — and 
witnesses of his humiliation — gazing upon the moun- 
tain of the incarnation — and here and there, upon 
their ministries of mercy, like the stronger of the 
children of the valley, in their ascent to heaven — 
resting upon the " Rock of Ages." 

" God was seen of Angels." It shall be our ob- 
ject to consider and explain to you, in part, what is 
revealed to us of angels, and their connection, in the 
mind of the Apostle, with the doctrine of the incar- 
nation. And yet it will be manifest to you, at once, 
that in a single dissertation, even if we might have 
no other object to pursue, we could do little, in dis- 
playing, for your learning, all that in Holy Scripture 
is contained upon this subject — much less when we 
must deal with them as the Apostle does, as witnesses 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 57 

to fact. Remember then, that this is not intended 
as a disquisition on the nature and the offices of an- 
gels, (that boundless and seraphic theme,) but solely 
as an effort to develope, from the language of the 
text, what we suppose to be the object and the sense 
of the Apostle. 

Shall we attempt to prove their origin, or their 
existence ? The Apostle, on the authority of inspi- 
ration, here assumes the fact of their existence — and 
although, because belonging to another world, they 
may have been created many centuries before this 
world became the home, and then, the prison-house 
of man, yet all have sprung alike from the creating 
hand of God. They are revealed to us as spirits — 
high intelligences — enjoying knowledge greater far 
than we possess — living where no deep veil of flesh 
hides the effulgence of the Deity — as standing near 
the throne of the Eternal — knowing at least, his 
voice, and the glory which surrounds him, and the 
clouds which serve him as his chariot, and knowing 
too, the thunder of his indignation, and the lightning 
of his eye ! Nay more, they " see him as he is," and 
read upon his awful form, the lineaments of Deity! 
They are revealed to us, as being " an innumerable 
company " — holy, harmless, undefiled, incapable of 
error, or false-witness, or deceit — because they " kept 
their first estate." Next to the God of all perfection, 
they are held up to us as objects of our imitation. 
We are required to call to mind their order and obe- 
dience — and to pray, " thy will be done on earth, as 



63 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

it is done in heaven." Moreover, there are grades of 
being even among them, and an ascending scale — 
and while one common " bond of perfectness " unites 
them to each other, and to God, the lowest on the 
scale, the furthest link of the great chain of spiritual 
natures, reaching down from heaven to earth, is far 
removed above our own infirmities, and the highest 
comes not to the throne ! How vast must be the 
population of the heavens ! How bright, in all that 
constitutes a character of excellence, must be the 
angelic host! And how exalted the occupation of 
those who are servants to Him who " maketh his 
angels spirits, who fulfil his commandments, and 
hearken unto the voice of his word !" 

And yet, the plan of our redemption, at which 
the unbelievers scoff, as if it were a thing contempti- 
ble — below the lofty reach of human wisdom — at- 
tracts their observation, and employs their ministra- 
tions, and even to angelic intellects, " the mystery of 
godliness " is " great." Yea, the world of spirits is 
described, as " put in motion " by the plan of our re- 
demption — and in many ways, at frequent intervals, 
they ministered to Him who undertook to bear the 
load of our transgressions, and by his death to ac- 
complish our salvation. 

They were with him, in his long temptation in 
the wilderness — in the garden in his agony — and at 
the scene of crucifixion — from the beginning to the 
end of his eventful life. And we may well conceive 
of those, who still were kept above, (the " legions " 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 69 

upon whom the Saviour might have called to fight 
for him, upon the night of his betrayal,) as stooping 
from on high to see the wondrous incarnation — as 
watching, from on high, the carrying out of the great 
plan, through all the actions of the Saviour, and the 
sufferings of the Redeemer — as stopping in then- min- 
strelsy, when the last scene was carried to its consum- 
mation, and the " sun was darkened," — and the dying 
groan of the Redeemer ran along the vault of heaven, 
and for the first time, since the note of discord when 
the mutiny of Satan was discovered, and he was 
driven from the sky, broke in upon the harmony of 
heaven ! Surely, we need not stop to quote the in- 
stances of their association with the Saviour, to prove 
the fact, that he was " seen of angels," when you 
cannot read of his nativity, of his trials, or his death, 
his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into 
heaven, without the story of their ministry ; — from 
them mankind received the announcement of his 
birth in Bethlehem — from them his sorrowing disci- 
ples learned that he had risen from the dead, when 
they looked in upon the vacant sepulchre, and knew 
not where to seek him. These facts will not be 
called in question by any but the modern Sadducee, 
asserting that there is no resurrection, neither angel, 
nor spirit — or by the hardened infidel who will deny 
the whole of revelation. Divine or human — God or 
man — whatever were the attributes of Jesus Christ, 
the angels saw him in the flesh, and were compan- 
ions in his pilgrimage. None can deny the positive 



70 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

assertion — none reasonably doubt, that he who un- 
dertook to ransom us from death, and claimed to be, 
and so has been acknowledged by ourselves, the 
Saviour, while he was occupied in the great work of 
the atonement, was "seen of angels. 1 ' And, as yet, 
we have only asked, that you shall grant this fact, 
without involving the character of the Messiah, or, 
for a moment, acquiescing in the point of his di- 
vinity. 

Thus much, at least, all those may say, who ad- 
mit the inspiration of the Scriptures, that, the birth, 
of human origin, and the good life, and uniform ex- 
ample, the overflowing charity, the meek submission, 
the trials, the sufferings, the bloody sweat and pas- 
sion, and, (if you choose, that we may seem to com- 
promise or yield the point of his divinity,) the martyr- 
dom of Jesus Christ, (for all concede him to have 
been a righteous man, and to have died unjustly,) 
were seen and known by those who are described as 
"Angels," inhabiting another world, and of such 
purity of character, and clearness of intelligence, that 
we may confidently trust in their assertions, and, as 
witnesses, their testimony may at all times be believed 
and credited without reserve. And it is nothing 
more than the concession, that others than mankind, 
and God upon his throne, were witnesses of these 
transactions. 

And now, if this be so, and even granted to be 
so, what consequence, suppose you, follows from the 
premises? for we come to that which we suppose to 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 



71 



be the drift of this whole passage, and the main de- 
sign of the Apostle. Either he was divine, and it 
was God himself who was incarnate, or else the 
"Angels" too are guilty of rebellion and impiety, 
and patrons of a fraud ; — rebellion against God, the 
only rightful sovereign of the universe, by bowing to 
another claimant of the throne — impiety, in sharing 
the society of one who had been guilty of so impious 
a claim — and fraud, in lending the influence of their 
authority to induce in man, a trust in a delusion, 
where his eternal welfare is concerned, and palming 
an impostor on the world ! 

What does the Apostle Paul declare:* Observe 
the structure of this passage. It is God, of whom 
this declaration has been made. As if it had 
been written, " God was manifested in the flesh, and 
God was justified in the Spirit, and God, thus mani- 
fested in the flesh, was seen, as such, of Angels !" 
No frigid sense can be imposed upon this language, 
without making it, in fact, a senseless passage, and 
violating every rule for its construction. We believe 
that " Angels" minister to men — and that the barren 
fact, that they did minister to each and all of us, 
would never tend to prove our own divinity — but if 
we claimed each one to be divine, the open comfort 
and assistance of the heavenly host, and, above all, 
their adoration, would testify, that, in their estimation, 
we were gods ; or else, the fact would prove their 
ignorance, or stamp them with impiety. And if the 



70 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

pen of inspiration had declared that God became 
incarnate in some one of us, and that, thus manifested 
in the flesh, He was beheld "of Angels," it would 
be the testimony both of inspiration and the Angels, 
that such an one of us, was God incarnate, known 
and recognised of all. Not as they wait upon the 
saints, did Angels minister to Christ — their ministry 
involved their recognition of his Godhead, as plainly 
as their anthems, and the extorted adoration, the 
reluctant homage, of the spirits of the lower world. 
And the design of the Apostle is, to array them here, 
after the [testimony of the Spirit, and in close con- 
nection with the circumstantial evidence which fol- 
lows, as witnesses upon his trial ! Behold, he is ar- 
raigned before the bar of human reason. And al- 
though he is the Lord of glory, yet he waives his 
power to mock at the tribunal, and withholds the 
uplifted arm of vengeance from utterly destroying his 
opponents, and here submits to trial. We wait for 
the conclusion of this series of discourses, to sum up 
the evidence in his behalf — we only mean to call 
to-day, among his witnesses, the Angels of the sky. 
Their competence shall first be shown — their acquaint- 
ance with the individual who has appeared, no matter 
whether by constraint, or willingly, before the bar. 
If he is God, they then have seen and known him in 
the courts of heaven, ever since the time of their 
creation. Throughout the empire of the sky, they 
know when they behold the insignia of royalty — they 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 73 

know where to receive from Him the intimations of 
His will ; and where to report themselves when their 
commission is discharged. They know where to bow 
down, and cover up the head, and worship, as His 
chariot of clouds is passing by. They know Him, 
when He opens wide his hand, and lets the tempest 
fly ! We call them — the Apostle bids them come ! 

Behold, the " cloud of witnesses — " which throng 
the temple of man's justice, and which fill the bur- 
dened air ! They come, at the Apostle's bidding — 
yea, at the feeble call of those who have received, in 
later days, the ministry of reconciliation — and bear 
the power of the keys. From the mansions of eter- 
nity, and from the recesses of the earth, they come — 
from where, below, they watch the infant's slumbers, 
and where, above, they sing the spirits' lays — from 
where they minister to saintly spirits, and where the 
trembling sinner prays — from where they stir the 
healing waters, cleansing those who enter there — and 
where they gather around the altar, and worship with 
the sons of men — from earth, from heaven — from 
every path by which they wander, from every chamber 
of the sky ! We call them — the Apostle bids them 
come — " Angels of God, approach, and testify, as 
ye do know, and as ye are responsible to truth, to 
virtue, and to God. Swear, by the dark abyss of hell 
to which the devil and his angels fell, cast from 
above, and which is open still, to receive the apostate 
spirit who shall dare to vary or depart from truth, 
even in the ' estimation of a hair.' Swear, by the 



74 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

throne, whereon Jehovah reigns, dispensing justice, 
unto Angels and to men. Swear, by the life of Him 
from whom your own existence flows, whose days 
are everlasting ! Swear, that the evidence which you 
shall give, shall he according to the truth, so help you 
God !" It is done. Now hear the testimony of tin; 
Angels., What know you of the truth or falsehood 
of the claims of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God ? 
Know ye the Man ? Is he the same, who laid the 
foundations of the earth, and stretched the line upon 
it? Who laid the corner-stone thereof, when the 
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
shouted for joy ? With solemn mien, as those who 
weigh the import of their language, they reply, through 
Michael the Archangel, (while all the host are waving 
their bright pinions, to signify that they accord in all 
that he delivers,) We know the Man. We knew him, 
when the wondrous work of the creation sprung from 
his Almighty hand — ourselves (still further back, be- 
fore that time was marked upon the circle of eternity) 
the creatures of his hand ! We knew him, when he 
sat upon the throne, and when, in the profound di- 
lemma (to all intellects but his) created by the fall of 
Man, he shared the counsels of eternity ! We knew 
him, when we all were summoned to assemble, that 
we might hear the Father tell the plan for man's 
salvation, and the cheerful acquiescence of the Son. 
We knew him, and a long procession of our Angel 
bands composed his escort from the sky, until he 
reached the shadowy borders of the scene of his tin- 



THE TESTIMOMY OF THE ANGELS. 75 

miliation, and there, in our presence, he disrobed 
himself of all his glory, when he had left his everlast- 
ing throne, to be the object of the Father's wrath, the 
sacrifice, for the transgressions of the world. We 
saw him, as we waited on the borders of the kingdom, 
when he bowed himself, and threw the veil of your 
humanity over the radiance of his deity ! but the veil 
which hid him from the view of sense, could not con- 
ceal him from his servants' eyes. We recognised, in 
all his works, the wisdom of the Infinite, and in his 
every deed, the power of Jehovah — and by these lights 
alone, we could have traced him, on his dark, and 
lonely way ! We knew him in the wilderness, when 
he resisted the temptation, and the devil left him for 
a season, gathering the blackness of despair. He 
was the same who cheered us, in the conflict with 
the " Dragon and his angels," and when the victory 
had been accomplished, brought us nearer to the 
throne ! We recognised the hand which fed the 
hungry multitudes, and the eye which pitied their 
distress — it was the hand which spread the manna in 
the wilderness, and gives to us our daily bread ; and 
the same eye which lights the every corner of im- 
mensity — which flashed upon the serpent when he 
triumphed in the garden, then melted, for the calami- 
ties of man ! We recognised the hand by which the 
blind received their sight — it was the same which 
gathered, in the orb of day, the wandering and scat- 
tered rays of light and " made the eye !" We knew 
the arm, which put aside the multitude who thronged 



76 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

him, and who sought to take away his life — it was 
the same which bears, as very little things, the earth, 
the ocean, and the islands of the sea — which shakes 
with but a touch, the mountains, and the strong 
foundations of the earth ! We knew him, when his 
dying groan reverberated through the sky — it was the 
voice, though strangely altered in his agony, which 
spake creation into being, and even now, commands, 
in trumpet tone, which can be heard by the extremest 
rank, the armies of the sky! We knew him, when 
we rolled away the stone, and, in our " robes of state," 
we stood to welcome him, and he laid off the gar- 
ments of his burial, and undid the fetters of the grave, 
and, unencumbered, walked away from the embraces 
of the sepulchre! We knew him, when we made 
an avenue for his reception, and hailed him, as in 
that same form, of crucified humanity, he passed along, 
through our opposing ranks to his accustomed throne — 
he was the same, though bearing with him, then, the 
trophy of his victory, whom we escorted from the 
sky ! And we have heard him say, that he will come 
again to earth, and smite the wicked with his rod — 
and he has given us a charge, that all whom he shall 
designate, we are to bind, both hand and foot, and 
cast them into hell ! !" 

Now, ye have heard the testimony of the angels. 
What think ye of the " Son of Man ?" What think 
ye of the testimony of the angels ? "Will ye deny 
their competence as witnesses ? Can ye deny their 
knowledge ? Dare ye question their veracity ? 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 77 

Compare jour own with their abilities — compare 
jour opportunities with theirs. Now, testify against 
them. Yea, God incarnate was not seen alone bj 
men, who witnessed his humiliation — nor onlj justi- 
fied bj the Eternal Spirit — but the " innumerable 
companj " of angels, bj their added testimonj, do 
confirm the truth. If jou denj the knowledge of 
mankind, and urge that thej have been the dupes of 
an impostor — we leave them, but the Holj Spirit, 
then, shall testify against jou. If jou explain awaj 
the witness of the Spirit, a " cloud of witnesses " 
are summoned to confront jou ! Denj the divinity 
of Jesus Christ, as well as his humanity, and lo ! 
thej throng around jou, as the vindicators of his in- 
nocence of all impietj, and testify, on their experi- 
ence, and protest, by their rejoicing, that he is divine ! 
Onlj denj the incarnation, " God manifested in the 
flesh," — and to the ear of faith, from every walk of 
earth, and from the whole expanse of heaven, and 
louder, from the cherubim whose wings are covering 
this mercj-seat, there comes one simultaneous voice 
of righteous indignation, defending the mjsterious 
doctrine of the incarnation ! Now, testify against 
them ! Oh, when, at last, the judgment shall be set, 
before the assembled universe, and Christ (still clad 
in our humanitj, although arrajed in glory, and hav- 
ing on the lacerated form, whose wounds, received 
upon Mount Calvary, declare and show forth his 
identitj, and those who wounded him shall " look on 
him whom thej have pierced ") appeals to those by 



78 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ANGELS. 

whom he is surrounded, be mine, be ours, to join 
with them in their confessions of his deity, and in 
their songs of highest praise, for his humiliation ! 
God save us — save us, from the overwhelming ver- 
dict, which thy angel legions shall return !! 



SERMON Y. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 



O God, who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, 
hast caused the light of the gospel to shine throughout the world ; grant, 
we beseech thee, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remem- 
brance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by follow- 
ing the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 






SERMON V. 



''•Preached unto the Gentile?" — 1 Timothy 3:16. 

Dear Brethren — in the course of subjects, on 
which we have entered, we take up, to-day, a theme 
appropriate to any day, but more especially to this, 
the nearest Sunday to the holy feast of the Epiphany, 
when the language of the text was verified by 
higher agencies than that of man — and when, a star 
from heaven published to the Gentile world the news 
of the Nativity, amid the testimony and rejoicing of 
the angelic host, who look with rapture and amaze- 
ment on the wonders of redemption. It is a fitting 
theme, to dwell upon the later publication of the 
coming of Emmanuel — to tell, how the angelic song 
was caught up by the Apostolic band, and repeated 
for a thousand times, to all the kindreds of the na- 
tions ; and how, even now, it lingers in the chords 
of revelation, and is awakened whenever a commis- 
sioned hand shall strike the harp of inspiration, it 
were appropriate for me to tell. So that, while I am 
developing the meaning of the text, in its connection 
with the other members of the sentence of which it 
6 



go THET2 STIMONY OP THE MINISTRY. 

is a part, I shall be bearing on the subject which be- 
longs to the occasion. 

Come, then, and let us go again into the temple 
of the sacred volume, where we have spent, I trust, 
some hours of holy and intelligent delight — and 
where, so long as this temple shall be open for the 
inspection of mankind, age after age shall come, with 
an inquiring eye, and craving appetite, and feast the 
soul, and satisfy the longings of the mind. And 
even yet, I would not bring you hastily before it, lest 
you should fail to understand its merits, and reap but 
small delight. But if, on every day, as we revisit it, 
we pause to look around upon its glory, and, even 
hastily, to overlook, as we pass on toward l he inner 
court, some work of superhuman excellence, and 
make ourselves familiar with its various scenes, while 
chiefly bent upon the study of some one — the gentle 
exercise will fit us for a closer meditation, and our 
minds and hearts become imbued with the spirit of 
the Author, and breathe the atmosphere of inspira- 
tion ! We shall also trace elsewhere, in other groups 
and combinations, some of the features of the piece, 
whose contemplation we approach. I would not 
bring you suddenly before it, for it is the work of one 
whose spirit is unlike our own, whose genius is the 
author of creation, whose thoughts are not as our 
thoughts, whose ways are not as our ways — and I 
know too well the value to the mind which is inferior 
to his by whom it was designed, of a moment's pre- 
paration, to appreciate it well. 



♦ * 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. g3 

Now glance, in passing, on that stirring scene, 
which hangs midway upon the southern wall, on 
which are gathered those which represent the history 
and lives of the Apostles. See, how that vast as- 
sembly gather round that stranger man — a crowd of 
learned men, of stoics and philosophers, ready to sit 
in judgment on his ignorance and folly, and anxious 
to know what his " new doctrine " is. He stands 
upon the summit of a hill, on which the multitude 
are gathered. His mien, so full of dignity and of 
authority, his countenance of fire and of love, his ac- 
tion and his opening words, have hushed them into 
silence, and riveted their whole attention. With 
eyes of hatred, and of unbelief, and scorn, and of 
credulity, (a mingled group of opposite emotions,) 
they hang upon his burning eloquence. Behold, he 
talks to them of God — for his look is upward, and in 
his countenance are seen the awe and the humility 
of one who knows the majesty, and feels the pre- 
sence of the Deity — and, we may even gather, from 
the attitudes of those around him, (gazing, as they 
are, upon the earth, the air, the living tree, the float- 
ing clouds, the burning sky,) that he has spoken of 
creation, and by his words and actions, he has sought 
to lead man's uninformed and clouded intellect, from 
nature up to nature's God, and now is resting in the 
contemplation of the Deity, with his arm uplifted, 
and his finger pointing to the sky ! See where 
the lip of scorn is curled, by some, in answer to his 
" foolish " declaration ; — see others, as they turn 



84 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

avvaj, like men who have been half-persuaded, and 
still are struggling hard against conviction — and 
others who are cleaving to that stranger man, as if 
already they believed ! It is the Apostle Paul, upon 
Mars Hill, the Grecian Areopagus, the highest court 
in Athens ! declaring to the heathen multitude, " the 
unknown God " — and, to the philosophers of Greece, 
the doctrine of the cross ! teaching the learned of 
mankind to seek the Lord, if haply, in their blind- 
ness, they might feel after him, and find Him — for 
He is not far from every -one of us. It is the Apostle 
Paul, fulfilling his great mission, and by his preach- 
ing to the Gentiles, contributing still further to " the 
mystery of godliness." 

And, almost next to it, you see that scene of 
deeper colouring and fewer incidents, where only 
one or two are gathered, in the darkness, at the door 
of one who is watched and guarded by a soldier — 
and where the scene is only lighted by the solitary 
taper, which reveals the poverty of his condition, and 
the signs of his captivity. They look upon him with 
the deepest interest, and with amazement — for he 
speaks with earnestness and freedom, smiling in his 
captivity, and as he lifts his hands to heaven, as if he 
saw deliverance approaching, you may observe the 
chains with which he has been bound. It is the 
Apostle Paul — but in his prison-house at Rome, ex- 
horting and instructing those who come to him for in- 
formation — and sending the unbound, free word of 
God, to instruct the ignorant, and liberate, from a 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. Q5 

bondage more severe than his, his own oppressors in 
the palace of the Caesars ! His very bonds are made 
the occasion of his preaching, and become the text 
of his discourses, and turn out to the increase of the 
kingdom, and the furtherance of the gospel. He is 
the same, who, in the piece which we have been con- 
sidering, mainly supplies, by his abundant labours, 
the feature which demands our contemplation at this 
time — for to him, above all other men, was it given 
" to preach unto the Gentiles, the unsearchable 
riches of Christ," on land and on ocean, in liberty 
and in bonds, in peace and in peril, by night and by 
day!- 

For, see, in this our study, where he appears 
again, with others his companions in the work, but 
foremost among all — (the head of a long line of Gen- 
tile ministry which stretches far away, towards the 
setting sun, and then is lost, unbroken, in the fields 
of time !) teaching the children of the valley, and 
ever pointing with an outstretched arm, towards the 
mountain of the incarnation, where angels, with 
their folded wings, rest on the " Rock of Ages " — 
and whose inferior earth, (even the dust of our hu- 
manity,) affords a softer tread, and safer footing for 
the faith of man to climb above the scenes of earth, 
to attempt the dwelling place of God ! To those 
who know how once the oracles of God were given 
only to the Jew, it is a wondrous spectacle. On this 
side, lies the home of ancient Israel, the land of their 
inheritance, and, once, the night-encircled region of 



36 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

Judea — and lo! far off, among the unenlightened 
nations who have no part nor lot in their inheritance, 
he publishes the doctrine of atonement — he tells them 
of the mercy which for ages has been kept in store, 
while God has " winked " at ignorance like theirs, 
and of a just God and a Saviour — of sin, and death. 
and pitying love, and of the incarnation and atone- 
ment — he tells them that their path lies on the 
mountain, which is visible from every region of the 
earth, and which affords a place of refuge from all 
danger — and a covert from the storm — that if they 
flee unto the mountain, far below them, on the sloth- 
ful and the unbelieving shall rage the hurricane, and 
fall the deadly rain of liquid fire — on Sodom and 
Gomorrah — and that, even if the angry sea again 
should break its bounds, and ocean roll its billows 
on the land, reaching above the waste of waters, the 
waves shall break upon its everlasting base, and 
break in vain ! 

" God was preached unto the Gentiles." Our 
object now shall be, to show the meaning of this 
language, and wherein it forms a portion of the 
"mystery " of that great scheme for the redemption 
of mankind, which is described as " godliness " — for 
this, the preaching of the truth beyond the borders of 
Judea, is counted by St. Paul himself, who was the 
" Apostle to the Gentiles," a wonderful tiling. But 
there is more in this than the assertion merely that 
the Gentiles at length were suffered to hear the gos- 
pel's sound. And he who only reads it as asserting 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. §7 

this, loses no little portion of the import of the lan- 
guage, forgets the general scope of the Apostle, and 
fails of perceiving the one great end he had in view. 
For I take it, that, besides that the structure of the 
sentence proves it, we must allow the Apostle enough 
of unity of purpose, and continuity of thought, not 
to have departed from his first intention, before he 
reached the close of this so brief, but most extraor- 
dinary passage. This member of the sentence is but 
another demonstration of the incarnation, and so much 
circumstantial evidence in favour of the manhood and 
the deity of Jesus Christ. And I shall undertake to 
show that it is so, by inference which cannot be re- 
sisted, and then, by the plain and necessary meaning 
of the text. 

" God was preached unto the Gentiles V — this is 
the assertion as it stands. We take it now as mean- 
ing only God, in his relations to mankind as their 
Creator — or rather, for the sake of argument, and of 
the inference which is to form one portion of the de- 
monstration, that the relation, in which he is here 
represented, is not defined. And that it would be 
lawful to derive from the expression, only the fact that 
the knowledge of the true God was suffered to extend 
beyond the borders of Judea — that Paul and others 
after, and conjointly with him, declared to them "the 
unknown God." And this will be borne out by the 
language of St. Paul himself elsewhere, and by the 
stirring scene upon Mars Hill. This he certainly 
does say. It is included in his language, and is part, 



83 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

at least, of his intention. The fact is not to be dis- 
puted. He did go out into the world to preach " the 
unknown God," and almost every land bears, in ils 
" earlier formations " of truth and Christianity, the 
enduring impress of his feet ! nay, almost every ocean 
bore him on its restless bosom, which would not be 
consoled, and, like a fretful mother's, tossed and 
heaved, as if to cast him naked and defenceless on a 
desolate and barren shore. The story of his journeys 
has been written by the pen of inspiration and be- 
neath his jealous eye — and yet but little has been told 
us of his wanderings, and here and there some greater 
peril only, is portrayed — while even that which is 
recorded, takes within its ample range, the then 
known world. Even England, mother of us all, in 
blood and in religion, boasts, and with historic truth, 
(as testify, successively, Clemens Romanus, the friend 
and fellow-labourer of the Apostle, and Irenaeus, and 
Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius and Jerome, Chrysostom 
and Theodoret, and witnesses of later days,) that her 
own soil was consecrated by his tread ; and by his 
Apostolic hand, was planted the small seed which 
afterwards became the great and glorious tree ; from 
which our shoot has come; — and which has weath- 
ered many a tempest of oppression ; and outlived the 
scorching rays of persecution, and the diseases which 
afflicted it, and marred its glory even to the ground, 
before the reformation, when enfeebled nature rallied 
and reclaimed her right, and the reviving pulse of 
healthful spiritual being, beat through its veins, and, 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. §9 

from its trunk and branches, scaled, and dropped, the 
scabs and incrustations of its sores ; and which sur- 
vives, even now, in greenness and in glory, manifest- 
ing vigour equal to the shoot, which has sprung up, 
and taken root in this far distant land ;— and it is now 
more beautiful in holiness, and older, more time-hon- 
oured than the gnarled and crooked trunk of Rome, 
which strove, in ancient days, by stretching out its 
branches, to blight its neighbour's growth, and make 
it wither in its shade ! We claim, ourselves, no very 
distant planting in this land — but claim to be a shoot 
from that great tree, now numbering eighteen hun- 
dred years, and so, through it, to have derived the 
life which circulates in our veins, from the Apostle's 
seed ; — and fondly trust to grow up here, in spite of 
disadvantages, and notwithstanding the constant 
waves, of heresy and schism, which sweep across this 
fertile, but unguarded soil — and notwithstanding the 
intrusion of that gnarled trunk, which trenched upon 
our parent tree, and now sends out its branch, far 
over the Atlantic wave, beyond the boundaries of Italy, 
to blight us with its noxious shade ! 

But I must pause lest I exceed the allotted time. 
It is enough to state the fact, which will not be dis- 
puted. He laboured almost every where, and almost 
every where, the stately " trees of righteousness " 
bear witness to his diligence, and to his nursing care ! 

But now, since we have the fact established, and 
admitted, that he preached the gospel to the Gentile 
world, we are to inquire into the nature of his 



90 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRT. 

preaching, and define what his " new doctrine " was. 
And this we shall be able to ei'fect, without delay. I 
say his doctrine, because he was the head of the long 
line of Gentile ministry, and testified, when he in- 
scribed the text, to what he knew, and had himself 
accomplished, and was " in labours more abundant 
than they all." He preached " the unknown God" — 
and taught, indeed, the unenlightened nations, to 
"look, from nature, up to nature's God," a Being 
infinite in his perfections, impalpable to sense, and 
"dwelling not in temples made with hands" — that 
all creation is his work, and, that, "the invisible 
things of God, were not made out of things which 
do appear " — but was this all ? Was this indeed the 
burden of the message which he bore ? Did he 
preach only God, a God of justice and of truth — and 
publish to mankind the law, which is " the strength 
of sin," placing them all at " enmity " with God, 
and never tell them of the "bringing in of a better 
hope," and of the way, devised by Him, and carried 
out by the Eternal Son, and, at all times, applied by 
the Eternal Spirit, by which "God can be just, and 
justify the sinner?" Nay, he could scarcely bear to 
lacerate and wound the hearts of men, and hide from 
them the " balm in Gilead, and tin 1 physician then'." 
It must have been the burden of his teaching — and, 
in no other way, could he have stanched the tears, 
which his dark portraiture of human guilt, and the 
sharp scourge of truth had caused to flow ! But heat 
his own confession of his doctrine and his oft repeated 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE MINISTRY. 91* 

boast, i. e., "I glory in the cross. God forbid that 
I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. We 
preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, 
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto us, who be- 
lieve, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of 
God." It was foolishness unto the Greeks — and 
you remember, that, when, upon Mars Hill, he 
spoke to them of " the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead," " some mocked, and others said, 
we will hear thee again of this matter !" 

Take, then, his own confession of the substance 
of his preaching, to the Gentile Greeks. It was of 
Jesus Christ — of Jesus Christ, as being the author 
and finisher of our faith, and of our salvation — as de- 
vising, planning, carrying out, perfecting our redemp- 
tion — as the way, the truth, and the life — as able and 
willing to save. But yet, he tells us, that in preach- 
ing thus, he preached to them of God ! He preached 
to them all this of Jesus Christ, and yet he uttered 
it of God ! speaking of both alike — confounding in- 
dividuals, if they were not the same ! God was 
preached unto the Gentiles — when Jesus Christ was 
preached — not on the principle that God was repre- 
sented by his servant, but preached as doing all him- 
self that our redemption wanted, as giving his own 
life, which it w 7 as said that God had given, and yet 
which no one else could give, and no one else could 
take aw r ay ! See, how, to every mind unbiassed, 
the conclusion follows from the premises — and how 
the inference of which I spoke is irresistible. How 



9-2 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

could he else have preached " the unknown God r" 
How could he have declared him, in those qualities 
which are unknown, by nature, unto man, without re- 
vealing the mystery of our redemption; without alluding 
to the attributes of God, displayed in this our rescue ? 
— for every thing we know of God, and every thing 
that we have ever heard of him, is written in the 
history of that transaction, is bound up with the 
tragedy of the atonement. The revelation of him- 
self to us, is all for that one end, that we may be re- 
deemed. He never yet inspired man — he never gave 
a blessing or a curse, but with a single reference to 
his great plan of our redemption ! We know Him, 
only in connection with the crucifixion. The in- 
spired volume is, from Genesis to Revelation, nothing 
but the story of atonement. It is here, that he is 
most " unknown " — and most inscrutable to human 
wisdom — where wisdom shines most inconceiva- 
ble, and the great deep of love defies the measure 
of our passion, and the exhaustion of his heal- 
ing flood — here, where not alone to man, but to 
the cherubim and seraphim, he still remains " un- 
known." The God of nature cannot be unknown, 
in this the hightest sense of mystery — earth, air, and 
ocean speak to us of him — rocks, trees, and flowers, 
and fountains, and the living creatures of his hand, 
all speak to us of him, and the "invisible things of 
God, from the foundation of the world, have been 
known by the things which are seen." Each star of 
heaven tells the story of its origin — and every sailing 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 93 

cloud bears on the reflecting mind, upon the path of 
Deity — and nature with her myriad voices tells us of 
his glory, and by her countless rounds of beauty 
and of being, plants at our feet a bright, ethereal 
ladder, upon which a child may climb ! But here, 
and as a God of grace, he is "unknown." The 
Apostle led the Greeks, without resistance, up to na- 
ture's God, but when he talked to them of Jesus, 
and the resurrection, they rebelled ! He who could 
reconcile offended justice, where there was no means 
of reparation — he who could love with such amazing 
love, after the sinner's scorn — he who devised the 
way, and executed the atonement — he is the " un- 
known God." When he preserves me in my being, 
and gives to me my daily bread, I know my Father's 
hand — and when he rides upon the whirlwind, I can 
see the spirit of the storm — and when he walks 
down the untrodden sky, I see his glorious way — but 
when he overlooks my trespasses,, and snatches me, 
a miserable sinner, from the gates of hell, and by the 
welling blood of his own wounded Son, Oh, then, is 
my God " unknown " — his judgments are unsearcha- 
ble, and his ways past finding out ! He must have 
told them of the incarnation, how God himself was 
there allied with man, or else, he never touched the 
great profound of mystery — he never could have 
preached the unknown God — he told them, that 
which they might read upon the ample page of na- 
ture, and left untold and unrevealed, all that they 
could not know ! 



94 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

But we must leave the inference, however irre- 
sistible, and briefly bring to bear the plain assertion 
of the text. It needs no lengthened argument — it 
only needs that I remind you of the true construc- 
tion of the sentence, and at once the testimony is 
complete. The declaration is, that God was mani- 
fested in the flesh, in which he was justified in the 
Spirit, in which he was seen of angels, and, as such, 
(God manifested in the flesh, to reconcile the world 
unto Himself,) he was " preached to the Gentiles." 
It does not mean — it could not mean, that God was 
preached abstractly, and in no connection with the 
time when he was manifested in the flesh ; any more 
than it were possible for Paul to have hid the know- 
ledge of salvation, and yet have preached " the un- 
known God." This is it, (the " mystery " of God 
incarnate, for us men, and for our salvation,) which 
the Apostle preached. We have inferred that such 
was his new doctrine, and now the Apostle " tills us 
plainly," and without a parable, that he had published 
God incarnate — for the text itself was written bv his 
hand. It is the confession of his doctrine ; by v\ hich 
five thousand generations have been guided, and for 
which he is to answer at the bar of God — and either 
God himself became incarnate, as the Apostle has 
assured us, or else (with all the angels, who are 
found false witnesses of God) there is reserved for 
him who preached a gospel which was not the gos- 
pel, who broke the law and taught men so, a re- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 95 

compense more bitter than the crown of thorns, 
or than the flames of martyrdom — even a lash of 
scorpions, and a fire that never shall be quenched ! 

Now, it is not necessary that we find a " mystery " 
in every member of this passage. It were enough 
that all which follow after the opening declaration 
should be shown to justify and to substantiate that 
truth. But there is mystery beyond — mystery in 
the • fact itself that the truth was preached, and 
preached beyond the borders of Judea. But I can 
only tell you what it is, and not discuss it now. 
Rather there is a double mystery. It was amazing 
to the Jews, that God should now depart from his 
accustomed way, and send his oracles abroad — that 
they should be no longer stewards — and scattered as 
the truth was now to be, they wondered, doubtless, 
how the oracles should be preserved. They won- 
dered that the Almighty should cast off the people 
whom he had foreknown. And Paul himself, as he 
proclaimed the tidings, when he started on his 
errand, must have felt a strange emotion, and won- 
dered that the barriers were broken down. That 
mystery to us is cleared away — and when we cele- 
brate the holy feast of the Epiphany, and think how 
we are brought to the possession of the truth, and 
through their unbelief, we are touched indeed at their 
calamity, but the only wonder is, in the depth of un- 
deserved free love ! 

There is another mystery more great, (and it is 
the only further thought I shall present,) in that 



96 THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 

the word was preached at all — in the selection of the 
agency by which the knowledge and the benefits of 
the atonement are to be carried to mankind ! Be- 
hold, a world in wickedness, at enmity with God, 
and " dead in trespasses and sins " — and God atones 
for their transgressions by his own self-sacrifice, in 
human form, on the accursed tree. But man must 
first believe in the deep guilt of sin, and in the in- 
carnation of Jehovah, and so apply to his own case, 
the remedy which is provided — and, (beyond the or- 
dinary strivings in his spirit, even in the unrenewed,) 
there is no way for man to come to the possession of 
the truth, and to lay hold of this salvation, but by 
the preaching of the gospel, and the " ministry of 
reconciliation !" And God has blessed the preaching 
of the word, for man's recovery, and, in a certain 
sense, has given it the power to redeem ! for, " how 
can they believe in Him (not as a God of nature but 
of grace) of whom they have not heard ? And how 
can they hear without a preacher ?" And is it not a 
mystery, that God should make the feeble ministry of 
man, the vehicle of the incarnate God, the bearer of 
salvation — that he who only preaches to his fellow 
man, and preaches with authority, not only brings 
him to the cross, (if he repent,) but brings the hal- 
lowed cross, still burdened with its bleeding victim, 
even unto him ! — that when he tells him of the 
offer, and the plighted faith of God, his speech has 
power to make for him the incarnation, Jehovah 
dwelling in humanity ! Yea, if ye could but hear it, 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE MINISTRY. 97 

on the magic word of a commissioned minister, who 
tells you of redemption — for you, Mount Calvary 
draws near, with all the attendants of the tragedy, 
and from his wounded side, the awful and life-giving 
blood courses anew, so really, that you might see it 
as it falls, and bathe you in its stream ! Yea, if ye 
could but hear it, on the weak but magic word of a 
commissioned minister, who in God's name has told 
you of the heritage of saints, and of the promises of 
glory, a light like that which beamed from holy Ste- 
phen's face, just entering eternity, (the face as of an 
angel,) like that which robes the saints on high, 
caught from the effulgence of the Deity, is shining 
round about you, (it is the fringe of heaven's glory — ) 
and, in a measure, for a moment only, the sable veil 
which hides futurity, is drawn ; and Christ himself 
appears in glory ! Tremble — for ye have heard, 
again, the preaching of the gospel ! Tremble — for 
we have brought you to the cross — yea, brought the 
gory cross to you ! Look, on the extremity of an- 
guish — look on him whom you have pierced ! Tremble 
— for ye have heard again the offer of salvation ! 
This day, the declaration of the text has been ful- 
filled ! 



SERMON VI. 

THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 



Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testi- 
mony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith hehold 
the glory that shall be revealed; and being filled with the Holy Ghost, 
may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first 
martyr, Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed 
Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who 
suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 



SERMON VI. 



" Believed on in the World."—! Tim. 3:16. 

Just before us, on the way towards the Holy 
Place, behold a scene of violence — where a vast 
multitude, (as if they had been roused to frenzy by 
the mention of some hated name, or else, had found 
the object of their cherished enmity, and were ex- 
cited by the chase, and fierce to bring it to an end,) 
press on, upon a meek, defenceless, solitary man, and 
with revengeful eyes, and frantic gestures, and, ap- 
parently, with boisterous oaths, and awful impreca- 
tions, stone him, unto death — »and he, weeping, as if 
in pity, and kneeling, as in prayer, and, seemingly, 
upon his parted lips, some fervent supplication, (at 
which the angry multitude are but the more in- 
censed,) with outstretched hands, extended towards 
the sky, (as if he saw some being, visible to none 
but to himself,) gives back the treasure of his stew- 
ardship, his life, his soul, to God ! And, at his side, 
there stands a young and zealous man, in whom the 
sufferer should have found a friend, holding the 
clothes of those who are the fiercest of the throng— 



]02 THli: HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

and so, consenting to his death ! The one is holy 
Stephen, the first martyr of the church, permitted, 
for his meekness and his zeal, his courage and his 
constancy, to be the earliest of the gathered fruit, the 
head of all the martyr-bands, and the first to follow 
after the Redeemer, dying for his belief — the other 
is the future convert of the faith, the great Apostle 
to the Gentiles, the author of our text. And, in this 
scene, we have an instance, beautiful indeed, of the 
prevalence and power of the gospel, in the world, 
which he has here recorded. 

Now, in the scene which we have been consider- 
ing, the feature which attracts our notice, at this 
time, and which 1 shall propose, to-day, for your ex- 
amination and reflection, is this same faith of man, 
represented by the ascent of multitudes of human 
beings, from the deep vale of our humiliation, up the 
stupendous mountain of the incarnation — finding 
in the humanity of Christ, a softer tread, and safer 
footing, a practicable way to climb to heaven upon 
the " Rock of Ages :" — where, if alone the solitary 
truth of his divinity, even, "a just God and a 
Saviour," but with no revelation of the manhood of 
our Lord and our Redeemer, had been declared ; for 
instance, if it had been asserted of the Father, 
(whom yet we only know in his relations through 
the Son,) — and so the rock had not been covered, 
here and there, by the earth of man's mortality, we 
never could ascend. For, even as a God of nature, 
in his least sublime and least mysterious character, 



TPIE HOMAGE OP HUMAN REASON. 1Q3 

in order that we may approach, at all, his residence 
in heaven, he has given us the works of nature, as 
the ladder upon which to climb ! 

How vain the effort, then, to seek for reconcilia- 
tion in another way — to seek to approach, and feel 
familiar with the eternal Deity, without the help of our 
human nature to break the awfulness of his infinity 
— to strive to look upon the radiance of Deity, (the 
" light which no man may approach unto,") unveiled 
by our humanity — to attempt to trust in him, as 
knowing our infirmities, without the assurance of his 
sufferings — to attempt to climb to heaven, only upon 
the steep, stupendous, uncreated, and unbroken 
" Rock of Ages," on w T hich, if we shall fall, we shall 
be broken. Even angelic natures, living far above 
this lower world, when their high intellects attempt 
the more immediate home of the Divinity, do mount 
by the continuous ladder of creation ! beyond where 
human sight attains, and far beyond the highest 
round of life and beauty, on which our feebler na- 
tures rest; and then mount up upon the steps of 
most refined and spiritual being, which he has placed 
around the footstool of his throne — and yet approach 
not to Jehovah's self! The exhibition of this faith, 
by which the preaching of the cross has been received, 
shall occupy us at this time. 

" Believed on in the world." Taking this lan- 
guage in an ordinary and a general sense, and dis- 
connecting it from all which has gone before, we 
should derive from it nothing but the simple declara- 



104 THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

tion of the success and progress of the gospel. And 
doubtless, there are many careless readers of the 
Scriptures, who see, in this expression, no greater 
depth of meaning. It has undoubtedly a reference 
to the reception of the gospel by mankind. And 
without departing widely from the text, 1 might go 
on to speak of frequent instances of its effect, and of 
the exhibition of a Christian faith. 1 have described 
to you the martyrdom of Stephen. And I might 
tell you of St. Paul himself, and follow him upon his 
journeys, and through all the perils which he braved, 
and all the hardships, the stripes, the bonds, and the 
imprisonment which he endured, and how he held 
fast his confidence, steadfast unto the end, and, like 
St. Stephen, won a crown of martyrdom. And I 
might tell you of a thousand other instances, which 
may be gathered even from the records of the period 
when that Apostle preached and laboured upon earth. 
And, passing individuals, I might go on to nations, 
where he and others, with the same authority, pro 
claimed the gospel to the world — and fairly urge, 
that in the eye of prophecy, the word of inspiration, 
not only would those portions of mankind who had 
believed already, but also those who should after- 
wards believe through their word, have been in- 
tended. I might go on to tell at length, and in de- 
tail, the spread and triumphs of the gospel every 
where. It were indeed a glorious theme, if called 
to it on this occasion, to paint the long triumphal 
march of Christianity, through all the kingdoms of the 



THE HOMAGE OP HUMAN REASON. JQ5 

earth — over their people, and their princes, and their 
power — victorious, ever, over sword and cross and 
burning flame — with a long train of captives of all 
nations, and the spoils of every people — reaching 
from oriental climes beyond this western region, 
and from the birth of Christianity to our day. 

It were a sadder theme to tell, that though the 
onward movement, and the mighty march of revela- 
tion still continues, and truth is still victorious, yet, 
here and there, the ranks are broken by the ad- 
versary, and, here and there, some portion of the 
spoils have been reclaimed — to tell how looser dis- 
cipline and weaker faith prevail, even where the truth 
is most triumphant — and how the glorious armour of 
the saints now shines more dimly than at first, as if 
they all were soiled by their long march, and by the 
dust of ages — and how, as if the perils of the march 
had thinned the ranks of Israel, and many a soldier 
of the cross, unharnessed through neglect, without 
his shield, without his helmet on, had perished, in 
the thousand strifes through which their progress has 
continued, the church militant of our day presents a 
spectacle of tarnished glory and enfeebled strength, 
scantily covering a smaller field, by an extended line, 
scarce able to outflank the undiminished hosts of un- 
believers, the allied army of the world, the devil, and 
the flesh, by whom the advance is every inch dis- 
puted, who rally and renew the fight as often as they 
are defeated ! 

Deeds of heroic daring might be told, however, 



106 THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

of those who are contending — and the still unwaver- 
ing constancy of the embattled ranks. And, if the 
occasion called for it, no limit need be put to our re- 
flections but the lapse of many centuries, and the 
boundaries of the world. Each valley, and each 
eminence of time — and every mountain pass between 
the cliffs of ages, and every fortified position of the 
enemy, would have its thrilling tale of conflict, and 
of brilliant victory. More than the world which 
Alexander knew, than all he even sighed to know, 
that he might conquer, the gospel of our Lord, the 
great fact of Christianity, the church of God, has 
overcome. Yes, infinitely more — for ever since the 
commencement of its march, the places of the hosts 
of those who have opposed it, and have either fallen 
in the conflict, or been taken captive by the forces of 
the kingdom, and been, in time, permitted to put on 
the armour of the saints, and take their stand beside 
the soldiers of the cross, have been supplied from the 
resources of the enemy, and by the increase of man- 
kind — so that it may be said, that every generation, 
born as they are, at enmity with God, has been 
another force to be encountered, and gathered to it 
the surviving remnants of the last, and stood up in 
the room of that which has departed. When Alex- 
ander sighed, it was because the opposition ceased — 
and there was nothing more to be accomplished — 
there were no inexhaustible resources — the races of 
mankind were not renewed within the hour of his 
victory — nor could he stay until another world might 



THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 



107 



be prepared for his aggression. And when he con- 
quered all he knew, he sighed for further occupation. 
But the church of God, or Christianity, or else the 
blessed gospel, whose armour is of light, whose blade 
is truth, whose champions are the meek, and whose 
victories are blessings to the vanquished — is never 
satisfied — nor has to long for other combatants — and 
never rests — its conflicts do not end — and while the 
world itself shall last, although its movement shall be 
onward still, and fiercer conflicts should be followed 
by still greater victories, yet, ever shall the genera- 
tions of the foe spring from the gory ground, and 
from the ashes of the vanquished ! 

All this might be described, and we might pause 
upon it with absorbing interest and profit. But this 
was not the chief design of the Apostle— and it be- 
comes us to forbear, and to beware, lest we misrep- 
resent him, and fail to perceive and to exhibit his in- 
tention. The allusion in the text, if any, to the 
great progress of the gospel, is only incidental. He 
does not mean so much to say that multitudes be- 
lieved the gospel, as to assert that " God was mani- 
fested in the flesh," and prove it by another argu- 
ment derived from the fealty of human intellect, the 
homage of man's reason, as so much circumstantial 
evidence in favour of the^ doctrine of the incarnation. 
When it was written, the work which even this 
Apostle did, had not been all accomplished. And 
the argument, though cumulative, by reason of the 
multiplying instances, and the subsequent extension 



108 THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

of the kingdom, is jet complete as the Apostle left 
it, with the facts which had transpired. 

We shall establish such to be the true interpreta- 
tion, again, by the plain import of the language, and 
then by inference amounting to a demonstration. 
The argument, upon the sentence as it stands, may 
be conducted briefly. If in the preceding clauses, 
the structure of the sentence has required the several 
declarations to intend, that God, as " manifested in 
flesh," even in human form, was justified, and seen 
ol angels, and preached unto the Gentiles, then still 
we must retain the same interpretation. One grand 
and leading thought possessed the mind of the Apos- 
tle — it was the wonder of redemption, as effected by 
the incarnation, so that he who was to suffer for man- 
kind, might die with all the pangs of dissolution, and, 
that humiliation witnessed to, by God's good Spirit, 
and the holy angels, and the preachers of the cross, 
who carried to mankind the benefits of the atone- 
ment — and now he adds, as other testimony to the fact, 
as well as another feature in the mysterious opera- 
tion, the unfaltering faith and homage of mankind. 
He means to say, that they to whom the gospel had 
been preached, the plan of our salvation been pro- 
pounded, received implicitly the truth, that God came 
down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy 
Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, for us men, and for our 
salvation. He means to say that this great mystery 
of godliness had been received, and, in receiving it, 
mankind had added to the mystery — and in accepting 



THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. [Q9 

human faith, that God had made the mystery still 
more profound. And surely, on this portion of the 
argument we need not dwell. 

But now, again, we have established, in the last 
discourse, and by a necessary inference, that the sub- 
stance of the Apostle's preaching when he declared 
■" the unknown God," was a God incarnate, and so, 
"'a just God and a Saviour," (for God himself must 
have put on humanity to be the sacrifice for sin,) and 
hence it follows necessarily, that since they believed 
what he declared to them, they must have credited 
that "God was manifested in the flesh" — preached 
unto the Gentiles — believed on in the world : — the 
same was published and received — the same in all 
his attributes, and in his flesh, and in his passion, and 
in his mighty resurrection. He who was preached, 
inscrutable in wisdom and in grace, he was the God 
believed. And here we may safely rest this portion 
of the argument. 

Again, we gather such to have been the gospel 
which the world received — that they believed on God 
as manifested in the flesh — from the conduct and ex- 
pressions of some of those whose history is given, and 
the circumstances of whose death have been recorded 
—of men who had the opportunities of knowledge — 
"filled with the Holy Ghost" — men who were taught 
by the Apostles, yea, had likely been instructed by 
our Lord himself — men who received the doctrine of 
the spirit's immortality, and of a future state of pun- 
ishment and of reward — men who would not trifle 



HO THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

with their everlasting interests, nor in the hour of 
death approve a falsehood, when the admission of the 
opposite, asserted as the truth by their opponents, 
would have saved them from the anger of the enemy, 
and from a cruel death. If these, the friends, and 
fellow-labourers of the Apostle, do own themselves to 
have believed in God incarnate, then surely, testimo- 
ny such as theirs, will prove that such was the Apos- 
tle's teaching, and such the faith which they received 
from him, and such the meaning of his language in 
this place. And is there, can there be, a doubt of 
that which was the substance of their faith — the faith 
of those who first received the gospel, and first suffered 
at the hands of men, for his sake who had called 
them out of darkness into light? For an example 
take the martyr Stephen. See, how the holy record 
has preserved the exhibition of his faith. See, how 
his dying declaration is an evidence of the divinity of 
Jesus Christ, and of his faith in him. See, how the 
brief and simple exclamation of that faithful man has 
been, to all the church of God, a heritage of com- 
fort and assurance, and served to rescue his name 
from heresy, his memory from reproach ! He died in 
haste, but not before his testimony had been given — 
and not before he proved, by all the light of know- 
ledge, and all the earnestness, sincerity, solemnity 
and truth which the approach of death itself is able 
to inspire, that manhood and the Godhead met, and 
were for ever married, in the Son of man ! For while 
they gnashed upon him with their teeth, he looked 



THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. m 

up steadfastly to heaven, and said, " Behold, I see the 
heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the 
right hand of God." And then they stopped their 
ears, (lest they should hear his blasphemy — for they 
well understood his meaning was that Jesus was di- 
vine, which made it blasphemy to those who had 
rejected him, and that he meant triumphantly to say, 
he knew in whom he had believed,) and ran upon 
him and cast him out, and stoned him, "calling upon 
God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit !" 
Enough — enough — he gave his own immortal soul 
into the hands of Jesus Christ, and staked his hope 
of happiness and heaven upon the fact of his divinity, 
for when he appealed to Jesus, he was " calling upon 
God !?? Did he commit his soul again to any but the 
one who gave it ? to one who could not save ? Did 
he, in death invoke the anger of Jehovah, that he 
might spurn him from his presence, and his kingdom, 
and cast him into outer darkness, and bind him with 
a rebel's chain, by boldest mockery of his supremacy, 
and by exalting a mere creature to the throne of him 
who will " not give his glory to another ?" Did he, 
as, homeless, houseless, and defenceless, he was en- 
tering eternity, defy the anger and omnipotence, 
and rouse the jealousy of God ? Did he, in solemn 
mockery, sport with the awful character, and dignity, 
and power, of that great Being whose presence he 
must enter, and whose protecting shield he wanted 
for his preservation, and into whose sustaining, "ever- 
lasting arms " he threw himself, declaring, in the 



112 THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

presence of the enemy, his confidence and his secu- 
rity ? Then did he meet the scorner's doom — then 
did he utter blasphemy — then did he perish everlast- 
ingly — then heaven, which had seemed to open wide 
its gates of glory, and reveal his ever-present help, 
and his inheritance, was closed on him, for ever — and 
the night which settled on his spirit as he passed 
away, was one whose dismal shades are deepening 
through eternity ! He had no plea of ignorance — he 
knew the certainty of what he should believe — and 
if he erred, and taught men so, profanely holding out 
in death, a mightier " Stone," even the " Rock of 
Ages," upon which he fell, shall fall on him, and "grind 
him into powder." At least, we must allow that he 
himself believed the language which he uttered. This 
case is but one instance of ten thousand — and is a 
fitting case to represent them all. And, representing 
other instances, it proves what the Apostle has re- 
corded, that, the mysterious doctrine of the incarna- 
tion was not only preached, but was believed. 

But, now, if the Apostle did not, mainly, mean, 
in writing that it was " believed on in the world," 
to dwell upon the wonderful success and progress of 
the gospel, for what purpose, in connection with what 
goes before, does he record the fact ? Why, doubt- 
less for more purposes than one — to which we shall 
allude. The fact that it was so received, will teach 
us, first, that though the mystery is great, it should 
not be declared to be repugnant to the reason of man- 
kind — but only a doctrine so above our reason, a 



THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. H3 

theory so far beyond the reach of our invention, that, 
while our wisdom could not have discovered it, our 
reason may approve, our faith may apprehend it. The 
fact that it has been received, goes far to silence the 
objections of an unenlightened and perverted under- 
standing — because, it was received in circumstances 
likely to test its consonance with reason, and by hon- 
est and sincere and reasonable men, in whom it is 
recorded that the Holy Spirit did reside, enlightening 
their understandings, and held, by them, as not at all 
opposed to reason — as in keeping with the other 
movements of Jehovah, and with all his intercourse 
with man, as they have been made known in revela- 
tion. In a word, the fact which he records, assures 
us, that this same doctrine of the cross, which our 
understandings have approved, was so approved by 
human intellect, and human hearts, in the beginning, 
and is indeed, although so full of mystery, not only a 
divine, but rational Christianity. It tells us that 
mystery and reason are at one — they have been re- 
conciled — yea, that reason will itself require in the 
plans and operations of Jehovah something unlike the 
" foolishness " of man, such as becomes a God. Self- 
willed, and " heady " men will not receive the doc- 
trine, because they could not have devised it. And 
why ? because man's reason is to them a god, and 
they will own no wisdom which is greater. If these 
be right, what shall we say of those and of their un- 
derstandings, who in the olden time believed, and had 
good opportunities of knowledge, and received the 
8 



114 THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. 

commendation of Jehovah ? And we believe, as they 
did, not that reason could itself have found this way, 
"in which God can be just and justify the sinner, " 
but, that the plan, when it has been revealed, fills 
all the mind with an amazement, at its wisdom and 
efficiency, but commends itself to human reason. It 
is as if the Apostle had declared, " this mystery of 
godliness is great," that God became incarnate, but 
the Spirit testifies to its reality, and holy Angels wit- 
ness to its truth, and I believe it, and am lost, in 
admiration of the wisdom which devised it, and I 
have preached it to the world, and they too have per- 
ceived its wisdom, and credit that which passes hu- 
man understanding. 

Tin: language also teaches us its wisdom and its 
power, because there is implied the evidence that 
they believed, found in their happiness and conduct. 
This point deserves far more development than we 
can give it now — only let this be said — to speak of 
human faith, is to speak of what it does — and to re- 
cord the faith of the disciples, is to declare the adap- 
tation of the mystery to human want. It is to say 
that there appeared in those who had received it, the 
fruits of holiness which it was promised to create — 
affording comfort — and allaying fear — and giving 
hope to drive away despair — making the way of our 
salvation plain, and tangible to all. 

And yet, as forming part of the great plan by 
which the creature shall be reconciled to the Creator, 
it is a mystery indeed. Behold the " mystery " of 



THE HOMAGE OF HUMAN REASON. j J 5 

faith, of faith which you possess, of faith which you 
have seen. It is a wondrous thing, that God has 
made the faith of man one instrument of his salvation — 
that he has given it a place, within that scheme which 
called for the exertions of the Deity, and employs the 
ministry of Angels. It is a wondrous thing that 
there should follow, upon hearing, faith which reads 
the things invisible — faith which can appropriate the 
sacrifice upon the cross, and make a God incarnate ! 
" Believed on in the world " — it is to say, that sin is 
pardoned and the sinner prays — that bonds are bro- 
ken, and the prisoners are free — that the doctrine of 
atonement has achieved the mastery — and death and 
hell are robbed of victory! Wonderful plan — so 
simple and majestic — so wise, and so profound, and so 
omnipotent ! Shall we not help it onward by our 
own obedience, and by the homage of our under- 
standings ? Shall we not shout its praises ? we, to 
whom the doctrine of the cross has been propounded 
— we, for whom the sacrifice itself was made — we, 
who believe it ? That Jesus Christ was God, is our 
persuasion. We will abide with Paul. We will 
abide with the " believers." We will confess the 
faith of martyrs. We will die with Stephen. " Lord, 
we believe — help thou our unbelief." A false philoso- 
phy has cast us out — wilt thou receive us ? " The 
stones " of " evil speaking " do assail us — be thou 
our shelter. The night, the night of death is near 
us — stay with us, till the morning. 



SEBMON VII. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 



Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy 
only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the 
heavens ; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him 
continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, 
one God, world without end. Amen. 



SERMON VII. 



"Received up into glory." — 1 Timothy 3: 16. 

It is with a feeling almost akin to sadness, that I 
draw towards the conclusion of this subject, which 
has occupied my mind and heart so often and so long. 
I feel almost reluctant to approach, again, this gra- 
phic sketch of the Apostle, because we are to study 
and contemplate the only remaining feature of the 
piece — and, this visit is to be the last. For I have 
loved, dear brethren, for your sakes, and my own, 
and for the sake of Jesus Christ, whose manhood and 
divinity are placed in such relief, this perfect and 
amazing exhibition of the plan of our salvation. But 
I remember that the tidings are not limited to but a 
single declaration of one messenger of God, but the 
same truths, though, it may be, not stated so con- 
cisely and so comprehensively, nor in the order which 
has been adopted here, are scattered all along the 
Spirit's way, upon the pages of the Bible. Although 
not equal, it may be, in our opinion, in the light and 
colouring and grouping of the features and the ob- 
jects, on the sacred canvas, and, in their complex 



120 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

design, to this our favourite — yet there are multitudes 
of other scenes with which this temple is adorned ; 
at some of which we have already tarried, I trust, 
with interest and with delight. And, I feel that we 
have, even now, but hastily considered this great 
work — and that, to-day, we shall not be able to do 
justice to the feature which remains, — reviewing as 
we must what we have said before, and summing 
up the evidence in the behalf of the divinity of 
Jesus Christ — and briefly discoursing of the " mys- 
tery " of the entire plan. But, the expression 
which becomes, in turn, our text upon this day, 
is not alone the termination of the passage, but sup- 
plies the closing act of the manifestation of the Son 
of God, and may well shut up our own discourse upon 
this most absorbing theme. He was received up into 
glory — and I would, but dare not hope it, that this 
feeble effort to vindicate his wisdom and benevolence, 
and his claim upon the homage of mankind, might 
rise with him, and plead for me, and for you all, 
before his Father's throne, that we may share his 
glory, and be with him where he is ! 

Our course shall be, first, to consider the only 
remaining feature of the piece, and then to recapitu- 
late the arguments of the Apostle, and then to state 
the plan of man's salvation, made up of these compo- 
nent parts, which it was also the design of the Apos- 
tle to present. We have already dwelt upon the 
mountain of the incarnation, as it is composed of 
earth, and of the Rock of Ages, and have seen it lis- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 121 

ing high above the ridge of mysteries, giving to hu- 
man faith a safe and practicable way to climb to 
heaven. And we must now consider the greatness 
of its elevation, and speculate upon the glory of that 
illimitable space in which its top is lost, and follow 
with the mental eye, the fading outline of the peak, 
until it disappears ! 

" Received up into glory." It becomes us, in 
advance, to ascertain the meaning of this declaration, 
touching the form and substance of the individual, 
whose ascension is recorded — and then the doctrine 
will inevitably follow, and we shall see how the re- 
corded fact becomes yet further circumstantial evi- 
dence of the great doctrine of the incarnation, and 
harmonizes with the arguments and testimony which 
have gone before. 

The language, like the rest of this whole passage, 
(as has been already shown,) can be applied to no 
one else than Jesus Christ. And surely, after the 
previous repeated demonstrations of this fact, we may 
be, now, permitted to assume it. It is of Jesus 
Christ, then, that the Apostle has recorded, that he 
was " received up into glory." He was alluding to 
the scene at Bethany, when from the midst of many 
of his followers, and in the light of day, and in the 
midst of his instructions to the chosen few, who were 
especially to represent him upon earth, he w T as seen 
to go up into heaven— the history of which occasion 
has been given by this same Apostle in the book of 
Acts, which was composed by his companion, and 



122 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

beneath his truthful eye. If so, and it is Jesus 
Christ who is intended, we have, at once, a double 
evidence that, whatever was his nature, whether 
angel, or archangel, or some still loftier intelligence 
approaching nearer to the throne, or God himself, or 
only man — he went up in a human form. For, both 
the holy record has declared it, and the senses of 
those men who kept him company, all the time that 
he went in and out among them, beginning from the 
baptism of John, to that same day that he was taken 
up, and whose testimony, with such opportunities of 
knowledge, we are compelled to credit, bear witness 
to the fact. Doubtless in human form he suffered 
on the tree — when he forsook the grave, and his 
spirit returned to earth from the abodes of the de- 
parted, he proved to them his own identity, and satis- 
fied them of his resurrection, when he ate and drank, 
and walked and talked with them upon earth, and 
suffered one to see his mangled body, and bade him 
thrust his hand into his side — (for " they knew that 
a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as they saw him 
have") — and at the very time of his ascension, they 
had gathered round his visible, and tangible, and con- 
secrated person, and being taught of him, of things 
pertaining to the kingdom, they received his invoca- 
tion, and felt the very breath of life — and had his 
parting benediction. And this, dear brethren, is 
enough of testimony on a point which will not be 
disputed ; nothing of our poor humanity— of all that 
can degrade him, and deepen his humiliation, will be 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 123 

denied him. And we, too, will insist upon the truth 
of his humanity, because it proves his own capacity 
for suffering, his fitness for the sacrifice for man, and 
the depth of his amazing condescension. But though 
it is admitted by the adversary, we chose to establish 
it by better evidence, and suffer nothing to depend, 
alone, upon his forced concessions, which may at 
any moment be withdrawn. 

But, was he only human ? Besides the abstract 
testimony of the Scriptures and their further evidence 
by such assertions, as, unconnected with the point in 
hand, would prove the divinity of Jesus Christ, and 
that " in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily" — three several arguments establish it, which 
are derived directly from the text. For, you remem- 
ber, that the structure of the sentence requires us to 
carry on the individual, of whom the opening mem- 
ber of the sentence speaks, to every member of the 
passage — and that the only sensible and possible in- 
terpretation requires the declarations which succeed 
it, to be each and every of them predicated of the 
individual of whom the first is made, whose name 
is the only name of any being who stands in that 
relation to this passage ! If all along, the robe of 
our mortality, and the testimony of the Spirit, and the 
Angels, and the ministry of Christ, and the fealty of 
human intellect, the homage of man's reason, the 
tribute of his faith, have been predicated in succes- 
sion, of the Almighty — then has this closing declara- 
tion been intended of the same; and we must read, 



] 24 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

that God was received up into glory, when, (for it 
confessedly refers to the Ascension of the Saviour,) 
" the Son of Man" was taken up. What follows — 
what can follow, but that God himself and Jesus 
Christ are one — the divine and human natures 
dwelling in the man ? 

Again — he who was so received on earth as we 
have seen, and claimed, himself, to be divine, pre- 
dicted his departure, (as he foretold all other things 
which should occur to him, and happen in the world,) 
and that ascension was to be accomplished by the 
exercise of God's omnipotence, which could not thus 
be exercised, but by the Almighty's acquiescence. 
No creature can wrest from Him His power, and in 
its greatest energy, to palm a lie upon the world 
or to confront Him, in defiance, in the very heart of 
His dominions — and so to hurl him from his throne ! 
It were a monstrous and irrational suggestion, that a 
man might, even in the height of his ambition, and 
in his rebellion against God, despise the distant war- 
fare, and rising, by an energy which is divine, fly in 
the face of God. Oh no — a being not divine and 
in the form of man, claiming equality with the Crea- 
tor, if suffered to sport awhile the figment of his 
royalty upon the earth, could never enter into heaven* 
Oh, do not so degrade the nature of the God whom 
we adore, as to suggest, that either a pretender could 
exercise against his will, his own omnipotence or 
that he would lend the impress of his power, to so 
great hypocrisy. Oh, do not so insult the reason of 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. J 35 

mankind, as to suggest, that a creature could assume 
the reins of government of the wide universe of God, 
or that Jehovah could sit down with a usurper, on 
his throne. And yet, he claimed equality with God, 
and angels testified to his divinity ; and man, who 
must be saved or lost thereby, and who depends for 
his salvation on the truth, believed the claim — and 
still, he was "received up into glory." We boldly 
take the stand — and join the awful issue : — we 
must believe the divinity of Jesus Christ, or else 
deny the truth of God, because he was confederate 
with him — and, to our mind, at least, the alternative 
of faith in him, as the eternal Son of God, coequal 
with the Father, is Atheism — worse than infidelity. 
Take from me the divinity of Jesus Christ, to which 
the Father has set to his seal — and I shall wander 
on, a raving maniac, with a soul which craves an 
everlasting truth on which it may repose, and is 
maddened with the disappointment, and is tossed in 
ceaseless anguish, on the changes and the chances 
of this mortal life, and the fickleness of the divinity, 
and the uncertainty of an eternity — or else become 
a reckless libertine in time, and plunge at last into 
an unconscious nothingness, a hoped annihilation. 
Leave me, Oh, leave me, but a God of truth, whose 
promise is secure, whose witness is sincerity itself, 
and whose word shall stand for ever. 

Again — we are to gather something more, in way 
of argument, from the assertion, that he was " re- 
ceived up into glory " — for he himself spoke of the 



126 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

nature of that " glory " into which he was to be re- 
ceived. He spoke of it to his disciples as the glorj 
which he had with God, before the world was ; and 
called it his own glory, although it was described to 
be the incommunicable glory, in which Jehovah 
dwells. We are not left in doubt of his reward, nor 
of his destination — to the 1 ighest heavens — to the 
throne of God — and to his right hand — to exalta- 
tion greater than becomes a creature — to the same 
robe of radiant light which belongs to the Creator. 
And he who is familiar with the Bible, and has a 
mind unbiassed by fal>e theories of doctrine, and 
anxious to discover what is truth, will see, at once, 
(we are persuaded,) that when the Apostle says, he 
was "received up into glory," he means to introduce 
no matter that is new to those to whom (through 
Timothy,) his letter is addressed, nor to speak of a 
state of glory, of which they have not heard, per- 
taining only unto Christ — but to remind them of the 
consummation of that plan for our redemption, in 
which they were instructed, which started with the 
emptying himself, by the Eternal Son, of all his 
"glory," and was to terminate again in its resump- 
tion ; and to declare, that in his human form, bearing 
along with him the trophy of his condescension and 
his victory, and by the everlasting union of the na- 
tures in his person, reconciling fallen man to his 
Creator — he was received up into that glory which 
belonged to him of right from everlasting. — For 
mark you, brethren, his main design is, here, to as- 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 137 

sert the exaltation of our human nature, in which 
lies the recovery, for which he condescended to be- 
come a man — and, to show that exaltation, he says, 
that in the person of the Saviour, our nature did 
ascend, with Christ, into his glory ; the brightness of 
that glory having been revealed. So that, the ele- 
vation of our own humanity being the chief object 
in the present instance, in the mind of the Apostle, 
and his glory mentioned only as the state to which 
that nature had been carried, and mentioned as a 
state already known, even the state from which, they 
had been taught by him, he had descended — he as- 
sumes, as an indisputable truth, the very basis of his 
declaration touching our humanity, the doctrine of 
his divinity. As if J should declare, that by an 
earthly king, (whose power and supremacy were 
known,) an individual was taken to his glory, (to 
share with him the splendour of his royalty,) I need 
not add a full description of his power or magnifi- 
cence, it being understood — so the Apostle, starting 
with the assumption that the disciples knew the fact 
of his divinity, declares, that not without our poor 
humanity (the representative of all by whom it has 
been, or has yet to be inherited) he entered into 
glory. While the fact that our nature w r as thus car- 
ried up, becomes another argument to prove the In- 
carnation. 

How wonderful the " mystery !" How passing 
human understanding ! It has increased with every 
stage in the development and execution of the plan, 



J 28 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

until a climax, almost inconceivable, is reached, in 
the astounding declaration, that, a clod of the valley 
now lives in the climate of heaven — that a corruptible 
has put on incorruption, and a mortal frame is wearing 
immortality — and a body, (like the fretted covering 
of our spirits,) which once was nourished upon earth 
— then buffeted and smitten with a reed — then torn 
and pierced, on the accursed tree — then buried in the 
sepulchre — and bearing, even now, the marks of vio- 
lence inflicted by mankind, (the pledges of that suf- 
fering by which a world of lost immortal spirits are 
redeemed,) is seated on the throne. It is an awful 
mystery — at which, we hope, and weep, and tremble, 
and adore. It is a consummation worthy of redemp- 
tion — a climax which becomes a God — a mountain 
peak of mystery, far down whose sides the clearest, 
strongest ray of human intellect must fall — and which 
hides its summit in eternity. 

Yet who will dare to doubt the mystery ? Who, 
who will barter this invaluable truth ? Who, that 
cares aught to have a hope, fast anchored in that 
which is within the veil, will throw away this pledge 
of immortality ? Part with this sacred truth, however 
great the mystery, and you give up the assurance of 
redemption from the power of the grave to the body's 
resurrection ; and, I know, ye would not be unclothed 
upon, and ever flit, like spectres, through eternity. 
Part with this sacred truth, and you give up the con- 
fidence which it supplies, that God can feel for your 
infirmities. And with it goes the assurance, which 



THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 129 

is linked inseparably with this truth, of his continual 
intercession. You give up every thing worth having 
in the present life, which is an earnest of the future — 
for then we have lost sight of our Redeemer, of the 
form which suffered on the cross as an atonement — 
for, where, oh, where is our Redeemer ? If he is not 
in the heavens, tell me, oh, tell me, where ye have laid 
him — and I will take him away. 

Now let us briefly recapitulate his arguments — and 
sum up, before we sketch the plan in its perfection, 
the testimony in favour of the incarnation. Because 
the time is short, and trusting also to your own re- 
membrance of the past, I shall recite, with great 
rapidity, the evidence which has been brought before 
you. And also governed somewhat, I confess, by my 
persuasion, (which must also be your own,) that any 
portion of that evidence, of itself, would be sufficient. 

He starts with the confession that " the mystery 
of godliness is great " — and with the positive an- 
nouncement of the doctrine of the incarnation, in the 
fact which is alleged, that " God was manifested in 
the flesh." We waive, for argument, the advantage 
to be gained from his assertion, in language so direct, 
which will be seen, at once, to be of equal weight 
with any other evidence — himself a witness — an eye- 
witness — of the whole — and in his testimony guided 
and preserved from error, by the teaching of the Spirit, 
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. But for the time, 
though not for ever, we waive this fair advantage — 
9 



130 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

and go on to cite the evidence, by which this declara- 
tion has been proved. 

The doctrine, of the incarnation of Jehovah, 
stands arrafgned before the bar of an enlightened 
reason. And the question as to the divinity of him 
who so became allied to our humanity, is to be decided, 
for the present, by such witnesses alone, as are sup- 
plied from Holy Scripture, and are enumerated here. 

You will remember, that a multitude of witnesses 
appeared, in the earlier Prophets, and in the works 
of Jesus Christ; and in the persons of the Apostles, 
who lived when he was present upon earth, and in 
the later ministry, and in the saints of every age, 
whose triumphs have confirmed his prophecies, which 
were dependent on the truth of his divinity ; all " holy 
men of old, speaking as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost ;" all, with one voice, while giving in the 
testimony of the Spirit, by whom they had been 
moved, confirming his divinity — confirming it, not 
only by applying to him epithets, and giving to him 
attributes of Deity, but some foretelling him by marks 
which he afforded, and others owning him as Christ 
when he had come — and others testifying, in the ages 
which succeeded, that he indeed was Christ — all 
bearing witness to him as a " holy one " — all vouch- 
ing for his words, as those of truth itself — who, yet, 
professed himself to be divine. Nay, more than this, 
the Holy Spirit, in the midst of his impiety, (if he 
were not divine,) by a loud voice from heaven en- 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE ASCENSION. \$l 

dorsed him as sincere, and as the " well-beloved Son." 
The Spirit came, not only by his representatives, de- 
livering the words with which they had been charged, 
but, lest uncertainty might be imputed to his ministry, 
he threw aside the agency of man, and through the 
opening cloud, which screened him from our mortal 
sight, his voice of approbation fell, like a star, from 
heaven. His witness is direct, and unequivocal, and 
his testimony cannot be impeached. 

Then, we went on to summon other witnesses, 
and " an innumerable company of Angels " respond- 
ed to the call. They came from earth, and heaven, 
and the far home of Deity where they have seen the 
emblem of his royalty, and know the radiance of his 
glory — from where they bow with awful reverence, 
when his chariot of clouds is passing by. And to 
the question, " Do ye know the man ?" (while all the 
host were waving their bright pinions, to signify that 
they accorded in all that he delivered,) they replied, 
through Michael the Archangel, We know the man. 
We knew him, when creation sprung from his Al- 
mighty hand — and when we formed his escort from 
the sky — and when we sung his birth in Bethlehem — 
and when, upon Mount Calvary, we saw him die. 
We knew him, when his spirit went, and came from 
the abodes of the departed. We knew him, when 
we rolled away the stone which kept the entrance of 
the sepulchre, and we saw him rise up, as a giant 
from a night's repose, and loosing the bands of death, 
and laying by the grave-clothes of mortality, he 



132 THE TESTIMONY" OF THE ASCENSION. 

walked away from the embraces of the sepulchre, 
while we, adoring, bowed to earth, in homage to his 
majesty. We knew him, when we received him back 
again, and he passed along to his accustomed glory, 
bearing beyond the reach of death and hell, your 
ransomed nature, as the trophy of his victory. We 
know him now, the King of kings, dispensing justice 
unto angels and to men, the centre of the universe, 
the God whom we adore. Such was the testimony 
of the Angels — beings of more ethereal nature, and of 
intellect more bright — purer than man. There was 
no want of clearness in their testimony — no ambiguity 
of speech — no inconsistency — but a full consciousness 
of knowledge, and of truth — and their testimony was 
delivered, with the certainty, that they must, in a 
moment, meet the Being whose character they had 
described, and bear the scrutiny of God's unquench- 
able and sleepless eye. Their testimony cannot be 
rejected, and stands next, in value and in order, to 
that of the Eternal Spirit. 

Then came the preachers of the cross, whose 
sound has gone into the world, and in the fruits of 
whose abundant labours we rejoice — and we exam- 
ined them, through their great representative, the 
head of the long line of Gentile ministry, the Apostle 
Paul. They testified, through him, that from the Law 
and from the Prophets, and from the Holy Spirit, and 
from Jesus Christ himself, they had received the doc- 
trine of the incarnation, and proclaimed it to the 
world, and staked their all, for time and for eternity, 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE ASCENSION. 133 

upon its truth — and, as witnesses, their credibility 
must be apparent from their opportunities of know- 
ledge, and from the constant influences of the Holy 
Spirit, and from the persecution which they cheer- 
fully encountered, and the noble sacrifices, of all tem- 
poral interest, which they continually made. And, 
when we pressed the examination of the substance 
of their preaching, and demanded, if indeed they 
published to the world his full equality with God, and 
held him up, as, even on the cross, in his humility, 
and more, in his ascended majesty, entitled to more 
than human honour, even to the worship of mankind, 
a voice, almost of indignation, seemed to burst from 
the Apostle, and to be swollen by the protestations of 
the long succession of the ministry, as it came down 
the track of ages, until it reached this hallowed 
house, in which we are assembled, and my voice, (as 
I stood up to tell you of " a just God and a Sa- 
viour,") was blended with the volume of that testi- 
mony, and prolonged the sound i 

Then came the world — at least so many as re- 
ceived the doctrine of salvation through a crucified 
Redeemer. And Stephen rose, to represent the 
substance, and the purity and strength of human 
faith. He spoke of Christ as God. He called upon 
him as Jehovah. He prayed to him, in their behalf 
who rushed upon him to destroy him— and, as he 
passed into eternity, into his hands, as into the hands 
of his Creator, he gave back his immortal soul ! His 
testimony was delivered with solemnity, for with it, 



134 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

he breathed out his life, and ratified it with his blood. 
Through him, the world, who have believed, did own 
their faith in Christ, as our Emmanuel, and certify 
that so the doctrine was delivered by Apostles — and 
pay to it, by its reception, the homage of their un- 
derstanding, proclaiming it not only a divine, but 
rational Christianity. And when again the question 
was repeated, (as if there could be left in human 
ninds a doubt of the true faith of the disciples,) it 
seemed to me, that every valley of the earth, and 
every mountain, rang with the response of millions 
of the living, and that the earth was heaving with the 
restless ashes of the " dead in Christ," (who wait the 
resurrection morn,) until theyrose, and asked, u Why 
have ye dared to trouble us, and to molest our slum- 
bers ? Will ye assail the ground of our confidence ? 
Will ye remove our hope ?" And, when the world 
of the believers responded to their remonstrance 
in the confession of their faith in Christ as in Jeho- 
vah, they retired to their graves. 

Then came the testimony which relates to the in- 
spired history of the ascension — which ye have heard 
to-day — in which the Holy Spirit, and the Angels, 
and the ministry, and man, with his confiding faith, 
each bear their part. It is enough — it needs, it can 
require, no further argument. And ye, O men of 
knowledge and of understanding, in your obedience, 
and holiness of living, and in your fervent prayers 
to him, as your Creator, will be found the verdict 
ye shall render, as touching his united natures, the 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE ASCENSION. 135 

humanity and Deity of Jesus Christ. And I remind 
you, that for the verdict ye must render, be it for him, 
or against him, ye are to be responsible, to the en- 
lightened judgment of mankind — and to the church 
on earth — and to the souls of the departed — and to 
the impartial justice of the Judgment day. 

The parts of " godliness " which are the features 
of the piece, compose this simple, but mysterious 
plan of our salvation. Because man could not save 
himself, God undertook his ransom. He became 
incarnate, that he might become a sacrifice for sin — 
rescue our bodies from the power and corruption of 
the grave, and so restore us to the place which we 
had lost, by taking human nature into union with 
himself. The mode of the atonement was revealed 
to holy men of old, and is recorded in his word, and, 
by his gifts, has been confirmed to us for ever. To 
certify us more, and raise our estimation of the won- 
derful achievement, angels are suffered to express 
their admiration, and corroborate the fact. And, 
then, a church is founded, and a threefold ministry 
are set in order, with the power to perpetuate them- 
selves to every generation, to publish to mankind the 
tidings of salvation, and help them to lay hold on 
Christ, and of eternal life, by word, by deed, by 
holy rites, by sacraments, and prayers. And, then, 
with all this evidence before them, men are required 
to believe in Jesus Christ as both their Lord and their 
Redeemer, and show, by fruits of holiness, a living 
faith, by which they shall be justified — by which 



136 THE TESTIMONY OF THE ASCENSION. 

they shall be saved. Then death shall have no 
power to destroy them — and then humanity, raised 
up, in incorruption and in glory, shall, after death, 
ascend up into heaven, where he has gone before, 
both to prepare the way, and signify to us the excel- 
lency of " the recompense of the reward," in which 
both soul and body shall partake, after the judgment 
day, for evermore. 

Wonderful plan ! so simple — yet effective — so 
mighty, and profound. Who will deny that " the 
mystery of godliness is great ?" Think you, that 
after all this exercise of wisdom, this long-suffering, 
this condescension, and this lavishing of blood, Jeho- 
vah will bear, with patience, its rejection ? Could 
human reason have devised it ? Can human under- 
standing now impeach it ? Can human recklessness 
discard it ? Think you, that he who will disparage 
the performance, shall be partaker of the benefit? 
Think you, that he who will deny its " mystery," de- 
serves its mercy ? 

And was it for us, that this humiliation was ac- 
complished, and all the agony and the reproach en- 
dured ? — for us, the Holy Spirit witnesses ? — for 
us, the angels testify? — for us, a Church was 
founded ? — for us, Apostles preached ? — for us, 
that Jesus intercedes? — and, that we too might 
follow him, and share his glory, where he is, he 
went up in the lacerated form, still unrecovered of 
its wounds, in which he suffered on the tree? Oh! 
greatest mystery of all ! It is the worthlessness of 



THE TESTIMONY OP THE ASCENSION. 



137 



man which makes the love so wonderful — the mys- 
tery still more profound. It is the immeasurable 
depth, to which the divine compassion stoops, by 
which its greatness is revealed. It is because it rests 
upon the earth — that we can trace the mountain of 
the incarnation, to where it bathes its undiscovered 
top in heaven. 

" Lord, we believe — help thou our unbelief," 



O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be 
numbered ; make us, we beseech thee, deeply sensible of the shortness 
and uncertainty of human life ; and let thy Holy Spirit lead us through 
this vale of misery, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our lives ; 
that, when we shall have served thee in our generation, we may be gath- 
ered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience ; in the 
communion of the Catholic Church ; in the confidence of a certain faith ; 
in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope ; in favour with 
thee our God, and in perfect charity with the world : all which we ask 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



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Authorof 'Peepof Day," Sec. lvol.8vo. Price $175. 



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D. Appleton $■ Co. 's Publications. 

Tracts on Christian Doctrine and Practice. 

No. I. 
A HELP TO CATECHISING 

FOR THE USE OF 

CLERGYMEN, SCHOOLS, AND PRIVATE FAMILIES. 

BY JAMES BEAVEN, D. D., 

Professor of Theology at King's College, Toronto. 



BY HENRY ANTHON, D. D., 
Rector of Saint Mark's Church, New-York. 

Price, single copies, GJSf cts. 
No. II. 

CATECHISMS ON THE HOMILIES OF 
THE CHURCH. 

I.— Of the Misery of Mankind. 
II. — Of the Nativity of Christ. 
III. — Of the Passion of Christ. 
IV — Of the Resurrection of Christ. 
" This article is received in this Church, so far as it declares the Books 
of Homilies to be an explication of Christian doctrine, and instructive in 
piety and morals." — Art. xxxv. 

BY HENRY ANTHON, D. D., 
Rector of Saint Mark's Church, New-York. 

Price, single copies, 6i£ cts. 
No. III. 

AN EASY 
CATECHISM FOR YOUNG CHILDREN I 

THE CHURCH CATECHISM WITH SCRIPTURE PROOFS. 
Part I. 



THE PASTOR PREPARING HIS FLOCK FOR 

(Confirmation : 

BEING 

FOUR LECTURES, 

viz. 

I. THE OBLIGATION'S OF THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT. 
II. THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND DESIGN OF CONFIRMATION. 
III. THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION IN THE BOOK OF COMMON 

PRAYER. 
IV. THE DUTY OF THE NEWLY-CONFIRMED IN REFERENCE TO 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 

AND ALSO, 

A CATECHISM ON THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 

EY THE REV. 

ALEXANDER WATSON, M. A, 

CURATE OF ST. JOHN'S, CHELTENHAM. 



ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE PROTESTANT 
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